End of the World
by Tiny Octopus
Summary: A ring given to him by a stranger leads Levi to Trost Academy, where he finds others who have the same ring fighting for possession of a boy named Eren Jeager, who is not all he appears to be. A Revolutionary Girl Utena AU.
1. The Rose Groom

**Our protagonist is Levi, so there is coarse language. Also, if you don't know Levi's last name, that's here, too.**

**This story contains M/M and F/F pairings, so if you're not looking for slash fiction, this is not the story for you.**

**For those still remaining, I hope you enjoy the ride. It's probably going to be a long one.**

* * *

When Levi's parents died, he crawled into his mother's casket and refused to leave her side.

He was just old enough to understand what death meant, and just young enough to feel small and powerless with his parents lying motionless in padded, decorated boxes. His aunt and uncle had tried to get him to come out, but he didn't move, holding onto his mother's corpse because to him, this was the end of the world.

That was when a stranger appeared, a man who Levi, to this day, isn't sure actually belonged at the funeral. He leaned over the casket, wiped the tears from Levi's face, and told him everything would be okay. And though Levi did not know this man and struggles to recall if he even looked up at his face, he climbed out of the casket because he believed what he said.

He remembers little from his childhood, but he remembers that single event almost perfectly. The man seemed to Levi so regal and heroic, like a prince from a fairy tale come to save the day, and he smelled of roses. And before he left, he knelt down on one knee and gave Levi a signet ring with two wings crossing over one another and closed his fist around it.

"It takes courage and nobility to overcome great suffering," the man had told him, "You will do just fine. I want to see what kind of a young man you'll grow up to be, so keep this ring, and it will lead you to me one day." He vanished then-surely, he walked away, but Levi remembers it as blinking, and the man being gone in the next instant.

He had been only a young boy at the time, but this man made such an impression on him-his selflessness, his gift, his ability to convince Levi that the world would go on-that Levi decided he would be just like him when he grew up. He would be noble and heroic, like a fairy tale prince.

Like most dreams formed at the tender age of six, it was a noble phase that Levi eventually grew out of, right around the time that he decided that fairy tale princes and heroism were complete bullshit.

* * *

"Do you ever wake up in the morning," Levi says, "And just wonder how the fuck you got here, and why?"

Petra leans back against the railing on the bridge with her hands stretched over her head, watching the sunlight stream through the spaces in her fingers. "You mean here like at this school?" she asks, "Or like in general?"

He shrugs.

"Both, right?" Petra laughs. "I dunno. Not really, I guess. You're funny, Levi. I doubt anybody would guess by looking at you that you think so deeply."

"I really don't," he's in the middle of saying, but the chiming of the school bells send Petra scurrying across the bridge and calling for him over her shoulder.

They must look odd walking with each other, he thinks. Petra comes from money, and it shows in the modest but elegant way she walks and the soft, feminine voice she speaks in. Her nails are always manicured and she wears just the slightest hint of makeup to accentuate her features. At a regular school, she'd stand out, but at Trost Academy, she isn't so different from every other pretty rich girl. Trost presents itself as a haven for the gifted, but anyone who actually sees the expensive handbags and designer shoes the giggling young girls wear as they stare across the courtyard at athletic, neatly combed young boys who have been groomed since childhood knows that it's just a boarding school for children of the social elite, regardless of their talent. The rules are strict, the people are fake, and at the heart of it all lies the central tower where the student council literally peers down from their office on the sixth floor to survey their make-believe kingdom. Petra at least has a warmth to her that the others lack, but Levi quite clearly does not belong.

His family is not particularly wealthy, nor do they belong to the upper crust of society, and it's his brains alone that got him into Trost in the first place. Yet he carries himself like most inner city kids do-with a swagger, shoulders stiff, looking intimidating not by choice but by necessity and habit. He's short, and always looked like an easy target, and the need to compensate is almost ingrained into him. His vocabulary makes even his math teachers cringe, and Petra has told him more than once that he shouldn't glare at people so much, to which he can only blink at her, because he's pretty sure he wasn't glaring, it's just how his face always looks.

Petra is kind, though. She was the first person to reach out to him when he transferred, miraculously unafraid despite the rest of the class scooting their desks a few inches away, but to this very day, he doesn't know what she saw in him.

"Are you going to try to actually come to class now and then this year?" Petra asks teasingly as they arrive at their classroom.

"I'll think about it," Levi says noncommittally. He really doesn't mean to skip; but sometimes he comes to campus in a bad mood that's only further exacerbated by his teachers and their sermons, all, _"Levi, I noticed you're walking back towards the dorms even though the bell just rang. Why is that?"_ like they can't fucking guess. And yes, he supposes it could be an attitude problem. Even at his old school where everybody wasn't all uppity he got into his fair share of fights, sometimes with only a glance thrown in his direction as provocation. He's worked on it, though, because he knows his aunt hates getting those calls since she knows he wasn't always like that.

He knows it, too, and that makes it twice as frustrating.

"There's prince charming," Levi hears the moment he steps foot into the classroom, and follows Petra over to a group hovering near the windows. Oluo, Gunther and Eld are not necessarily similar to Petra, but what they do have in common is that they tolerate-and maybe even enjoy-Levi's company. Oluo in particular has taken a liking to imitating his mannerism and speech, perhaps to have a taste of what it's like to be of a social caste that cares more for the quantity of the food over how it is presented. Levi would probably be offended if it wasn't so hilarious-and a little endearing, almost. "I owe Eld lunch," Oluo says, sneering with his arms crossed over his chest, "I bet him you wouldn't show up today."

"Oluo," Petra scolds almost reflexively but without any real bite.

"You had to go get him, didn't you?" he challenges.

Levi turns to Eld, raising a brow. "You thought I would show?"

The boy is quiet and perhaps the closest thing to a normal person in Trost; he has a hard time hiding it when he finds other people ridiculous, which is a lot of the time. He shrugs. "Your attendance usually starts fine and worsens over the course of the year."

"Anyway," Oluo snaps, "We were just talking about the student council before you came in."

Levi leans against his desk, unable to feign interest. "What about them?"

"Just looking at what new assholes came to fill the spots of the old ones."

Gunther, meticulous and prepared for everything no matter how insignificant, has one of the "new student welcome" brochures in his hands, despite being a second year. "The president and vice president both graduated and were replaced," he says, "Although the current vice president is actually one of the incoming freshmen."

"Starting off early on the trail to decadence," Oluo says, rolling his eyes. "Is that chick from the fencing team still in, too?"

The classroom door slides shut as their teacher comes in, and everyone reluctantly disperses. Petra looks back from her desk to give Levi a reassuring smile and he rolls his eyes in response. He half-pays attention to the usual first-day bullshit, idly playing with his ring and tracing over the wing pattern with his fingertips.

_Where are you now?_ he thinks almost angrily at the imaginary figment of the fake prince from his childhood. Anymore, he thinks he must have remembered the whole thing wrong, maybe made the guy up to help him cope with the deaths of his parents. On one hand, his aunt and uncle never mentioned the man, but on the other, nobody seemed to know where his ring came from. Levi wasn't holding onto the hope of someday meeting this guy anymore, but he never threw the ring away either, and when he saw an advertisement for Trost with a crest that matched his ring, his heart had stopped, and he'd applied without even thinking. He doesn't know why he stayed, why he's still trying, when he's not waiting for anyone anymore.

Maybe he just wants to believe that there are heroes and saviors and princes, so he can let himself believe that he could be one again.

* * *

He doesn't make it past the first hour.

The first day of the new term is his least favorite, a blur of false smiles and unnecessary pleasantries, learning the names of people he won't like and who won't like him. Levi raises his hand and asks to be excused "to take a shit," and Petra looks back at him exasperated-half because she really wishes he could just say "I need to go the bathroom" like everybody else, and half because she knows that's not where he's going to go-and his teacher's expression is about the same, but he's excused. Even skipping class is a painful experience, because no matter how artsy or "modern" the architecture of the school with open air hallways and spacious courtyards is, there are gates and walls everywhere.

Trost Academy, to those with any sense, is just a giant cage. It's a private school, so of course the campus is framed by pristine white walls and golden gates all the way around. But it's so far separated from reality and the outside world; not physically, since it's just a quick jog across the river to the dorms and then to the surrounding city, but in just about every other way. The fountains wouldn't feel out of place in a museum featuring Ancient Roman sculptures, the gates themselves are built to resemble the wing crest, there's a small forest maintained at the north end of campus, and the cafeteria hall silverware has ornate designs on the handles not unlike the kind his aunt received as a wedding gift. There's an air of superiority, and the campus goes to great lengths in order to remove itself from the surrounding city, with walls and as many self-sufficient services as possible. Even when Levi goes on walks, leaving the high school department completely and going across campus, passing the central tower and the music rooms and the gymnasium, he still feels suffocated-or at the very least, walled in.

He's just gone out another pair of doors and out into the courtyard when he hears something that makes slow down. The sounds that reach his ears-a scuffle, shoes sliding over the tile, someone's fist connecting with someone else's body, a fight-makes him stop and turn, because he almost can't believe there's actually something as real as that happening on school grounds.

There's a garden in the courtyard that he can see from the open air hallway, shaped like a birdcage with golden bars. Levi watches two figures wrestling through the tinted glass, the larger of the two quickly gaining the upper hand and knocking the other to the ground. He draws closer when he hears voices raised.

"Jesus, just stay down," one of them seethes, but the momentary stillness ends just as abruptly as it began, the shorter figure struggling on the floor. "I'm not gonna ask again, Jeager. Stop fighting me if you know what's good for you."

Levi's at the door now. It's not his business, it really isn't-he's no hero, no prince, nobody's savior-but he catches a glimpse of the combatants from the glass pane of the door. There are two boys in the greenhouse; one with an undercut and narrow eyes pinning a slightly smaller one to the floor. The boy on the bottom has eyes the color of seafoam, not quite green and not quite blue.

And they're full of _rage_.

Levi doesn't know what comes over him, but the next thing he knows, he's reaching for the door, and his legs are moving.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" he demands, standing over both boys with his hands in his pockets, "If you two are gonna mess around, do it outside. First years aren't supposed to be in here." He could really give a shit about the school's policies, but he's at least got their attention now; the boy with wide, angry eyes looks up at him with confusion, seemingly surprised.

"Fuck off," the taller kid says, but he straightens a bit, rounding on Levi now, "We've got special permission to be in here."

"From who?"

"Student council," he sneers, "Jean Kirstein, Vice President, in case you didn't know."

Well, of course he's one of the pricks from Student Council. Trost Academy practically gives celebrity status to those kids; access to various campus facilities when they're off limits to everyone else, special treatment for low academic performance and an office on the sixth floor of the central tower in the middle of the school grounds, to name a few of the perks. Levi has never met any of them before and doesn't know them personally, but he's always hated them on principle.

His attention isn't on Jean, though. He's still looking at the other boy, who's slowly picking himself up off the floor. Levi takes his hands out of his pockets and crosses them over his chest. "So, what, is this where you guys haze or something?" he asks.

When he doesn't get an answer, he glances at Jean, whose suddenly wide-eyed gaze is settled on Levi's hand-more importantly, on the signet ring he wears. "Oh," Jean says, voice lowering, "So that's what this is about."

Levi stares back questioningly.

"The duels, dumbass," Jean says, "Are you new or something?" He takes a step closer to the other boy, who flinches. "If you want the Groom, you've gotta challenge me like everybody else. I'm not gonna make an exception just because you're new at this."

He's about to demand a better explanation than whatever bullshit Jean just spouted, but the other boy is looking at him almost expectantly-hopefully-and the, "Fuck, whatever, fine," leaves Levi's mouth before he's really thought about it much.

Jean glares at him. "Dueling arena at nightfall. Be there or I'll assume you ran like a bitch." Then he leaves, slamming the door behind him hard enough to make the glass quiver.

The other kid is still standing there, mouth hanging open like a dead fish. "Thanks," he says finally, and Levi shrugs, turning to leave. "Wait."

He doesn't. The kid doesn't take the hint and follows him out of the garden. "Hey, I said wait," he says again, louder this time as if Levi didn't hear him.

"I don't want or need your gratitude," Levi says without stopping or even turning to look, "I didn't save you because I'm a good person. I just really hate the brats in student council." He can still hear the other boy's footsteps echoing down the hall, just a half-step slower than his own. "So if you could stop fucking following me-"

"You lost something. Or someone."

Levi stops mid stride, freezing in the middle of the hallway. He glances over his shoulder slowly, not sure he heard the kid right. "Excuse me?"

"It's an old wound, too," he goes on, teal eyes looking directly into Levi's and reading him like a book. "You don't like to talk about it. Not a lot of people know, I bet. They don't look at you closely enough." He takes a step closer, and Levi actually flinches. "Whoever you lost," he whispers, his eyes holding a terrifying intensity, "I can bring them back."

Levi feels something inside him snap, and suddenly he's got his hands in the lapels of the kid's uniform jacket, slamming him against the wall. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" he seethes, "What makes you think you know a goddamn thing about me?"

The kid doesn't speak. He just looks down at Levi with an infuriating, sage-like calmness despite the storm brewing in his eyes. And against all reason, against Levi's better judgment and the fact that they just met moments ago, Levi feels like he might really know him.

"Eren," the kid says quietly, "My name is Eren."

Levi drops him to the ground and backs away, looking down in disgust. "I didn't ask for your name."

Eren dusts off his trousers, and Levi doesn't hear him following when he starts walking again. But when he's almost all the way down the hall, heading for the double doors that take him back inside, he hears him say, "I hope you win," and Levi walks a little faster, angry that the little shit thinks this has anything to do with him.

* * *

As the sun begins to set, Levi stretches and gets up from the bed in his dorm room, and for the first time ever, is actually excited to head back towards campus. The dueling arena is a complex used by Trost's various sports clubs for practice located out in the forest at the edge of campus. Levi is fairly certain that even student council members aren't supposed to be back there without permission, and he doubts Jean asked the headmaster if he could use the arena to beat someone up, which makes the whole thing twice as exciting.

He opens the door and Petra is standing there with her hands on her hips frowning in disapproval. He resists the urge to groan.

"Are you about done using the bathroom?" she asks dryly.

"Well, shit, now that you mention it, I guess not," he says, stepping around her and shutting the door behind him.

"Don't sass me," she snaps, hurrying to keep pace with him down the hall and to the front door, "You practically missed the entire day. Oluo made Eld pay for his lunch."

"Tough shit," he shrugs, "Shouldn't have made an optimistic bet."

She lets out a sound of frustration, and he hears her stop following just as he gets to the bridge that goes back to campus. Stopping momentarily to look back, he sees her sigh and drop her arms to her sides. "You're pretty much a genius, Levi," she says softly, "I know you pass your classes just fine even when you don't show up. But I feel bad when I think about you just spending all day in your dorm by yourself. Doesn't it get lonely?"

He shrugs. "Not really."

She doesn't say anything, but her gaze on him is steady, nonverbally calling him a liar.

Levi rolls his eyes. "I'll come tomorrow," he says, "And I'll stay. Happy now?"

"I'll be happy if you actually follow through," she says, but brightens up all the same. "Where are you going, anyway? We got out hours ago."

"On a walk," he lies smoothly, and she seems to buy it, nodding and offering a wave before turning to go back inside.

Levi isn't sure if any of his teachers are still out or if they've all retreated to their offices by now, so he sticks to the south side of campus as he makes his way to the forest, staying in the shadows of the open air hallways. He doesn't even hear footsteps behind him when someone suddenly cries, "Extra! Extra!" and he's surprised someone managed to catch him off-guard, turning on his heel and finding a taller student he doesn't recognize. They're dressed in casual clothing rather than a uniform, a dark jacket over a t-shirt and jeans, build tall and androgynous, hair a dark brown tied into a messy ponytail with oval glasses and a crazy grin on their face. "Have you heard?" they ask in an excited whisper, leaning in as though sharing a secret, "There's going to be a duel in the arena! I can't remember the last time that happened. Summer break might as well be a temporal anomaly when all the relevant time is spent on school grounds."

Levi blinks and goes over the words in his head again, but he's still confused. "What the fuck are you talking about?" The first thing they said clicks, though. "Are you another one of those student council pricks?"

"No, no, no," they say, shaking their head and sounding almost mortified, "I would never! I could never! I won't ever."

He tries to sidestep them, but they follow his movements. "I've got somewhere to be, so…."

"Hange Zoe," they say suddenly, holding out a hand to shake, though it's retracted just as quickly when Levi finally offers his own. "It's nice to meet you, Levi."

"Look, you're kind of pissing me off," Levi starts to say until he realizes he never gave his name. "Hold on, who-?"

"You're new," Hange says.

"No, I'm a second year."

"Not to the school, silly." Hange grins again. "Which means you don't know the rules yet. Those are the best duels, honestly. If you don't know what's at stake, you've got nothing to lose, right?"

"What?"

"Right," Hange nods, "But don't let me hold you up anymore. The student council vice president may be new to the school, but he's been at this a lot longer than you. Although any time at all would be a lot longer than you, so take that for what you will."

They finally step out of the way, and Levi doesn't know what to say, or if he should even bother saying anything, so he just starts walking. "Extra, extra! Have you heard?" he hears Hange calling behind him, but when he turns around, they're not talking to anyone, "There's a newcomer out to change the world! Someone stop him before he hurts himself!"

* * *

Having never been to the dueling arena, Levi honestly wasn't sure what to expect, but he's thankful for the paved path that cut straight through the forest. Unfortunately, it leads him to a dead end with a sculpture garden, and an enormous statue that could be bird-shaped if he squints looms over him in the center. There's no sign of anything even vaguely resembling an arena anywhere, but there is something that looks like a handle at eye-level attached to the bird-thing-statue, so Levi pulls on it, only to find that it doesn't budge. He's about to give up when he feels something cold hit his finger and pulls his hand away to find his ring wet.

Like a switch was pulled, everything starts to move.

The ground beneath him seems to heave with breath, and the smaller statues on either side begin spitting water, suddenly releasing waterfalls into the grass. The pathway he walked on elevates slightly, and the bird statue before him changes, the wings stretching outwards and rotating until they form the school crest, and the body rising to reveal a doorway and a staircase. Levi is still a little confused from his encounter with Hange earlier and is starting to think he must have fallen asleep, but with nowhere else to go, he decides to move forward, ascending the staircase to what he hopes is the arena.

He seems to walk forever, but he doesn't feel tired. The staircase spirals upwards high above campus and ends at a wide platform. Levi's steps slow when he takes a look around, suddenly realizing just how high up he is, seeing the evening sky and clouds all around him. When he finally arrives at the top of the stairs, he has to stop, awestruck by the sight of hundreds, maybe thousands, of roses carpeting the ground. It's a giant garden. When he looks up, he has to stare a moment at that, too, because there's something up there in the sky, just floating. He can't quite tell what it is because the sun has already set, but he knows there's something there.

"Took your time getting here," he hears Jean say, and looks across the platform to find the student council vice president with Eren standing a few steps behind him. Levi come further into the garden, leaving only a few feet between them. It's only then that he notices the ring on Jean's finger-one that's exactly the same as his.

"Where did you get that?" Levi demands.

"We all have one," Jean says, sounding as if the answer should be obvious.

"He doesn't have a sword," Eren suddenly chimes in.

Jean crosses his arms over his chest. "What the hell are you trying to pull?" he asks angrily, "You challenged me and didn't even bother to show up with a weapon?"

"What the fuck is going on here?" Levi yells, tired of all the weird, vague bullshit that's happened so far today. "What is this duel shit you keep going on about? Where the fuck are we?"

Jean is still silent a little while after he finishes with his outburst. "You seriously don't know?" he asks, sounding a little less angry and a lot more concerned. "How can you not know? You're even wearing a ring."

Somewhere in the distance, Levi hears a noise like church bells ringing.

Jean looks away from him. "Guess it doesn't matter," he says, "Jeager, get us set up."

"You can't duel him," Eren says, glaring up at the taller boy, "He doesn't have a sword."

Jean grips him by the collar in one hand and sneers, "I heard you the first time. Now hurry up," and then tosses him away.

Levi watches Eren's shoulders sink and doesn't understand why the boy turns away meekly when he still sees that anger in his eyes. He knows he has fight in him-so why doesn't he stand up for himself? Eren turns his back to Levi in front of Jean for a moment before he steps away, and Levi sees a rose pinned to Jean's breast pocket over his heart. Suddenly, Eren is in front of him, pinning one on the front of Levi's shirt, as well.

"You don't know the rules, do you?" he asks.

"No, I don't," Levi says, "If you could explain that, and everything fucking else, that would be great."

Eren's lips twitch as if he wants to smile, but he doesn't. "The way this works," he says, "Is that you're gonna try to knock the rose off of his chest. Doesn't matter how. If you have to kill him to do it, that's fine, too."

Levi's eyes widen. "Wait, what?"

"If you knock his rose off of his chest, you win," Eren continues, "But if your rose is knocked off first, then you lose. Make sense?"

"Wait, did you say if I had to kill him…."

"Yes, that's what he said," Jean cuts in, and Eren walks back to his side. "Damn. You really had no idea what you were getting yourself into." His attention returns to Eren, who presses his hands to his chest, and starts to glow.

"You who sleeps at the end of the world," he mutters, and Levi has to shield his eyes momentarily from the light coming from the kid. A breeze suddenly blows across the arena, rustling the rose petals at their feet. "Heed your master and come forth."

Jean closes the short distance between him and Eren, putting an arm around his waist and slowly tipping him back as if he plans to kiss the boy. Levi would like to know what's going on for probably the thirtieth time in the last half hour or so, but before he says anything, a sword handle appears in a burst of light from Eren's chest, and when Jean pulls it free, a blade follows. He whispers something in Eren's ear that Levi doesn't catch over the wind before it finally dies down and the light vanishes.

The bells are ringing again, and Levi can hear them clearly. And then, Jean is charging at him with the sword aimed at his heart.

Levi dives out of the way, tumbling into the roses and rolling to safety, but the vice president recovers quickly, holding the phantom sword in front of him and using a stance that Levi recognizes from the school's kendo club. So he's not just some jock; he really knows what he's doing. Levi tries not to look nervous.

"I almost feel bad about this," Jean mutters, "If you want me to make it fast, just hold still. There's no reason for you to get hurt over something you don't care about."

Levi can see Eren over his shoulder, watching them from the center of the platform. He can still see that rage simmering inside of him, but on top of that, Levi sees something like hope. He doesn't know this kid, and he still doesn't know what's going on, but he knows he doesn't like to lose fights. Jean takes another step forward, and Levi steps back, shielding his rose with his hands.

"Suit yourself," Jean growls, and charges again.

Levi tries to sidestep him and gets the left side of the his jacket shredded as a result. He almost trips over something in the roses but manages to roll to the side a little further when Jean come at him again, lifting whatever it was out of the flowers and holding it up to defend himself. It turns out to be a broom, and Jean actually cuts it in half.

Levi is expecting some dumb remark or for Jean to say something at least, but he's gone completely silent, seemingly possessed by the desire to cut the rose from his chest. His eyes are wide and mad, his grip on the sword turning his knuckles white. Levi has nothing more than half of a wooden handle, but he looks again to Eren standing a few feet away and how he's fidgeting, popping the joints in his hands anxiously, and he somehow finds the will to keep going.

Getting to his feet, he puts some distance between himself and Jean and watches for him to raise his sword again to charge. The moment Jean's foot comes forward, Levi starts to move, slowly at first to meet him halfway, but he ducks under the strike, throws himself forward and forces the fractured broom handle past the phantom sword and towards his chest. He's not sure if he did anything; it doesn't feel like he connected, so he at least doesn't feel bad about accidentally stabbing the kid with the splintering end of the broom, but as he rights himself and backs away from Jean, he finds him standing completely still and hears the bells tolling ominously far away as rose petals blow fast his face. There's nothing on his chest anymore.

The vice president falls to his knees, and the phantom sword vanishes from his hands. Slowly, he turns around, eyes wide but no longer angry.

"No," he whispers, "No, that...that wasn't…." He looks to Eren desperately, who has begun walking towards Levi. "Jeager, you can't...you can't leave me." He climbs clumsily to his feet, no longer the same confident brat Levi saw less than five minutes ago and stumbles over to them, still managing to fall a few feet away. His fists his hands in the bottom of the jacket of Eren's uniform. "He doesn't even know what he's doing. He-he probably doesn't even know what to do! Please Jeager..._Eren_…." Levi almost can't look at him. He sounds so broken and desperate, as if he condemned him to his death.

Eren looks down at him, expression unreadable, before Levi sees him smile for the first time. "Sorry, Jean. Guess I'll see you in class."

The bells continue to ring, signaling the end of something. Levi doesn't know what he's done, but he's afraid.

* * *

_What a fucking night,_ Levi thinks, hands in his pockets as he walks back across campus. He still doesn't know what happened, and he's not sure he wants to. He's pretty sure Jean would be fine if they never talked about it again. He's just over the bridge and a little ways away when he sees someone waiting for him around the next corner, their shadow giving them away. Levi stops walking and waits, and the person slowly steps under the streetlamp.

It's Eren.

"I changed my mind," Levi says, "I really don't want to know, so you don't need to explain."

He pauses, though, when he realizes something odd about Eren's eyes-he doesn't look angry anymore. He looks a little tired and maybe irritated, but Levi sees something deeper that he can't quite put a name to. Whatever it is, Levi thinks he's seen it when he looks in the mirror sometimes.

"Your name is Levi, isn't it?" he asks.

For some reason, his heart starts beating faster. "Yeah," he says slowly.

Eren smiles a little. "You remember my name, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Eren walks over to him and stands a little too close for comfort. "Because you and I are engaged now."


	2. With Nobility

**And we're back with more! As these chapters are a little longer than my usual, they take a little longer to write. Closer to May-finals season-don't be surprised if things really slow down. Thank you to everyone who left comments! I wasn't sure if this would have much of an audience.**

* * *

Levi wakes up the next morning, and it's like the previous day never happened.

He showers, gets dressed, combs his hair and heads out, meeting Petra on the way. Levi complains and she listens, offering the occasional comment, and they eventually get to their classroom, where Oluo, Gunther and Eld are in their usual spot.

Except there's something extra.

Someone, rather, sitting in the desk behind his and being stared at by the others, who are trying to figure out whether or not to tell him he'd better leave before Levi gets there. And that someone is Eren, of course, because who else would it be? Levi has half a mind to turn around go back to his dorm and sleep the rest of the day, but as soon as Eren sees him, he visibly brightens up.

He really hopes nobody asks, because he doesn't even know where to begin to explain what happened. _Well, you see, the dueling arena is actually an aerial rose garden, Jean Kirstein is fucking crazy, and Eren has a sword in his chest. That doesn't explain anything, but that's all I've got worked out so far._

"Levi says he'll actually stay for the whole day today," Petra says, clenching Levi's arm as she turns to him and asks, "Right?"

"Hn."

Oluo starts talking about something stupid, but Levi doesn't hear a word, because he's staring at Eren, and Eren is staring back at him, and he's just got this stupid smile on his face like they're having a moment or something, and Levi's heart is beating fast again which is ridiculous because he knows absolutely nothing about Eren but his name and that he's magic or something.

"-evi? _Levi_," Petra says loudly, waving a hand in front of his face. He startles to attention.

"Yeah?"

She stares at him with obvious concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"He's been staring at that kid," Oluo says in a loud whisper like Eren isn't right fucking there next to him.

"I'm just wondering what he's doing here when I'm pretty sure he's a first year," Levi says, hoping Eren takes the hint and doesn't talk about some weird magic duel bullshit.

To his relief, he doesn't. "I was bored in my class," he shrugs, "So my teacher had me transferred to a second-year class."

Levi doesn't say anything to the explanation because he's still thinking about chest swords and takes his seat in front of Eren when the teacher comes in. His friends stare at him for a little bit, seemingly impressed that he hasn't told Eren to fuck off and find a new seat yet, but they forget about him as the day goes on. Levi doesn't forget, though; he thinks he can feel Eren's teal eyes on the back of his head throughout the morning, and for some reason, that thought makes him a little flustered.

When the lunch break starts, Eren gets up to leave and Levi follows him. "Levi, you didn't pack a lunch today?" Petra asks. She sounds concerned, and not really about the lunch.

"I'll be back when lunch's over," he promises, and turns to follow Eren, who's headed back towards the first year classrooms. Eren notices him following fairly quickly and stops to let him catch up. "You didn't say anything about yesterday," Levi says.

Eren starts walking again, slower this time. "I didn't think you'd want me to," he says, "It's probably better not to tell people who aren't involved in the duels anything about them."

Levi meditates on that for a minute before he slips his ring off and puts it into his pocket, just in case. "Okay. So when are you going to explain this dueling thing to me?"

Eren opens the classroom door but pauses in the doorway. "Last night, you said you'd changed your mind."

"I changed my mind again."

"That's fine. But I don't know if lunch time is long enough to explain everything. I guess I could start-!"

"Eren, there you are!" someone calls, and a crowd of first years stampede over to the doorway. "What happened to you yesterday? You totally bailed on us," one of them, a brunette with her hair pulled into a ponytail and a sandwich shoved in her mouth, says.

"Sorry, I had to do something," Eren says.

"Kirstein again?" another practically spits, the only one shorter than Levi, his head shaved, "Why do you do anything that asshole says?"

Levi looks over the whole group and is surprised-they all look so unusual, like they don't belong at Trost. A lot like him.

Eren seems to remember Levi is behind him and takes a moment to introduce his friends. Sasha is the girl who just finished a sandwich and started unwrapping another, Connie is the kid with the shaved head, Armin is the scrawny blonde with a book under his arm, and Mikasa….

Wait, _Mikasa_?

"Levi?" Mikasa asks, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you went to the public school."

"I did," he says, "But I came here for high school."

"You two know each other?" Eren asks, eyes crossing between them.

Levi tries to tell what Mikasa might be thinking, but she's never been one to show what she's feeling on her face. "We're cousins," she says carefully, and he sees her trying to read him back to figure out how much she should say.

"You guys don't mind if he comes around, do you?" Eren asks, and receives a unanimous shrug in response, though Mikasa is still staring at Levi and he's still staring back, long after Eren has gone to sit with Armin, Sasha and Connie for lunch.

"You've known Eren long?" Levi asks, keeping his voice low as he glances out of the corner of his eye at the kid, laughing and looking pretty normal despite what he knows about him.

Mikasa's posture is rigid and she stands with her legs slightly apart. Levi recognizes that stance from childhood-she's defensive for some reason.

"Yeah," she says, "You remember when Mom and Dad sent me here for elementary school?"

Levi nods. Unlike him, Mikasa did not come to Trost as part of some convoluted childhood plan to find somebody who may or may not exist; she came because she wanted to, and her test scores made Levi look like the delinquent child.

Which isn't completely untrue, but still.

"Well, I hated it at first," she says, looking at her feet.

"You hated it?" Levi echoes, "Whenever you sent letters or we came to pick you up for break, you said you loved it."

"I didn't want you to worry." She pushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear self-consciously. "My first year here, I got picked on a lot by the same group of bullies." She glances past him. "That's how I met Eren."

Levi follows her gaze, and Eren looks up right then, making his breath catch in his throat. "I don't think there's ever been a fight in the elementary school before or since that day," she says, "But Eren attacked those kids, kicking and biting."

"Biting?" Levi repeats, holding back laughter. He can't imagine something like that happening at Trost.

"He didn't get in much trouble in the end. I think his parents are staff here or something. Since then, though, I haven't been bullied." She meets Levi's eyes again. "After that, I wanted to be able to stand up for myself, so I worked hard to become stronger. Now, I don't let anyone talk down to me."

Levi pretends to wipe his nose to hide his smile; the Mikasa who came home on holidays had been a meek, mousy girl at one time, but he'd noticed her opening up and holding her head higher with each passing year. He'd thought she was just growing up, but it made him proud to know it was more than that.

And it made him want to know more about Eren.

"Well, good for you," Levi says, and he thinks Mikasa almost smiles, "I knew you had it in you. I imagine you two are pretty close friends because of that?"

She looks back at him again, and this time Levi watches her more closely. "We are," she says, and this time, he catches it-a hint of longing. Of course. It doesn't really surprise Levi-Eren has a contagious smile and a cute face.

"I just met him the other day," Levi says, hoping he can find out more without asking directly, "He was with one of those brats from student council. The vice president, I think."

"Jean Kirstein," Mikasa mutters the name like a curse, "He started hanging around Eren just a few days before classes started."

"Why?"

"I dunno. Eren must've hated it, even if he never admitted it. We asked him all the time if he was okay, or if he wanted us to report Jean, but he always told us not to worry and that he was fine." Her eyes narrow. "Jean would get mad at him over the dumbest stuff, and he'd yell or try to hit him."

"Hit him?" Levi repeats, surprised. He thinks back to the first time he saw Eren in the birdcage garden, when he'd seen Jean looming over him.

"He tried not to do it front of us, but every now and then he'd slip up and grab Eren's wrist, things like that," Mikasa says, "I told him if he liked Eren, he needed to treat him better than that. He always acted like he was disgusted, but I don't know what else it could've been about."

Eren waves to the both of them, calling them over. Levi nods. "What, indeed," he mutters.

He stays with Eren and his friends for all of lunch and goes back with him to the second year classroom, finding Oluo with his head in his hands and Erd telling him he owes him lunch tomorrow. Petra smiles appreciatively as he takes his seat, but Levi's mind is on anything but class.

He needs to know who Eren is.

* * *

On the top floor of the central tower, the student council meets beneath a cloudless, afternoon sky, sitting on patio chairs around a table with the crossed wings engraved into its surface, colored stripes on their uniform jackets to mark their status.

The tallest of the assembled, red stripes on their jacket, exuding an aura of solidarity and strength, the student council president, is the first to speak. "So. Kirstein lost."

"No shit," says the one with stripes of yellow, the treasurer, legs crossed as they lean over the table on their elbow, "He didn't even bother to come meet us today. Guess he's hiding in shame. But who's the Groom engaged to now? It's not one of us."

"It's the new duelist," the last of the three says, a much smaller figure with stripes of blue, the secretary, "It must be. The letters said one would come."

"Fucking perfect," the treasurer scoffs, "Some random newcomer is going to try and make a grab for the power to change the world."

"I don't think he'll be getting that power," the president says, "Knowing Kirstein, he'll issue a rematch."

"Dueling under emotional stress can be the key to victory," the secretary says, "But it's a double-edged sword. A person could easily self-destruct while trying to use such a tactic."

"Doesn't matter to me," the treasurer says, standing from the chair and stretching their arms over their head. "If he wins, great. If he loses, hey, easy duel for us."

"Don't underestimate the new duelist," the president warns, "That's probably the reason Kirstein lost."

"Oh, don't worry about me," the treasurer calls, smirking over their shoulder, "You dueled me when you were new, too, remember?"

The president doesn't answer, anger flashing across their face as they watch the treasurer slip into the elevator and vanish.

* * *

Levi is held up at the end of the day for an extra minute when his teacher tells him he's gotten a new dorm assignment and writes down the address and directions on a sticky note. It's odd, because dorm reassignments aren't common after classes have started, especially if there's no real reason. When he asks why, his teacher shrugs and says he's just passing on the news. It doesn't really matter either way, as Levi won't miss the closet-sized dorm he lives in currently; it was the only one his aunt and uncle could afford to put him in, since Mikasa had been going to the school for years already and they were paying for her residence, as well.

"What was that about?" Petra asks when he finally comes out of the classroom.

"Apparently I'm moving."

"Apparently?" she asks. He shrugs. "Where are you going?"

He glances at the paper. "The east dorm halls."

"East?" she repeats, and he holds up the sticky note for her to read. "Really? I didn't know anybody even lived in those anymore."

They start walking back towards his old dorm to pack. "What do you mean?"

"The east dorms were the first ones built at Trost," Petra says, "The school doesn't actually use them anymore."

It's probably the least strange thing that's happened in the last day, so Levi says, "Well, I guess I'll find out," and keeps walking.

Petra asks if he needs help getting his things together, but he insists he's got everything-there isn't much he could fit in the old dorm, anyway, so all he needs to move is a single suitcase and a few bags of groceries. The walk to the east dorm is a little long, and the closer Levi gets, the fewer buildings he sees around. The older part of campus looks different from the rest but no less grandiose; if anything, it's even more gilded and pretentious, with the school crest appearing in stained glass windows and on walkways and on just about every building in some shape or form.

The east dorms are surround by tall, white stone walls with a gated pathway that leads to the door. The gates aren't locked, and Levi holds them open with his shoulder as he wheels his suitcase in, but suddenly finds the weight on his back disappearing. "Let me get that for you," he hears, and turns to find Eren grinning as he snatches Levi's suitcase handle.

"I've got it," Levi says and tries to take it back, but Eren moves a little faster.

"I'm not going to let you carry something this heavy," Eren says, as if appalled at the idea, turning to open the front door. "We're engaged, after all."

Levi freezes. Last night, Eren had said the same thing, but he'd been so tired and frustrated that he'd ignored it as more weirdness. "What the hell does that mean?" he asks, moving again when he realizes Eren is holding the door open for him.

The entryway looks almost like a hotel lobby, with tall, potted trees framing the doorway, floor that looks like marble, and a crystal chandelier hanging overhead. Eren struggles with getting the suitcase up the stairs, and Levi runs over to help him, getting on the other side to lift half the weight. "Ah, sorry," Eren says sheepishly.

"It's fine. You didn't have to get it by yourself." He glances down the second-floor hallway. "Do you live in these dorms, too?"

Eren lets out a sharp laugh. "Duh. We share a dorm room."

Levi stares at him. "Since when?"

"Since you won the duel yesterday. We're engaged, so…."

"Alright, give me that," Levi says, and takes the suitcase quickly enough that Eren can't grab for it again. "Show me where the room's at, and then you're explaining everything."

* * *

Their dorm is easily three times as large as Levi's old one. There are bunk beds shoved up against one wall, some dressers, a coffee table and two chairs already in there. Levi leaves his suitcase by the door and goes to sit down.

"Do you want me to unpack your stuff?" Eren asks, and Levi turns around.

"No," he says, "Get over here, sit down, and start talking."

He does so without question, taking the open seat across from Levi and leaning back. "Okay. What do you wanna know?"

"Everything."

Eren leans on his elbow over the armrest. "You're going to have to at least give me a starting point."

"Let's start with you."

"Me?" He sounds surprised. "You already know me. I'm the Rose Groom."

"And what's a Rose Groom?"

His expression darkens. "A mistake." Levi wants to ask about that, but Eren has this face like he's just remembered something terrible. Thankfully, he doesn't have to say anything, because Eren continues. "The duelists here-which includes you-fight each other so they can be engaged to the Rose Groom. Whoever's engaged to me gets to use a fraction of the power from the Walls." He pauses, meeting Levi's eyes. "Yesterday, when you looked up at the sky over the dueling arena, did you see anything?"

Levi tries to remember. "I dunno. There was something up there, but I'm not sure what it was."

"It was the Walls," Eren says, "And before you ask about them, no, I don't know how they got up there. They've just always been there. I do know that the power the duelist engaged to me gets to use comes from inside of them, and there's even more power in there, strong enough that whoever has it could change the world with it."

Levi has to think over it for a minute. "So," he says, "If I've got this straight, people are dueling each other to get engaged to you, and they want to be engaged to you because if they are, they can get some kind of power."

"Right."

It still doesn't make a lot of sense, but at least the pieces line up a little better than when it was all just a mess of random events. "And you were engaged to Kirstein before." Levi almost regrets saying it, wondering if it'll bring back some bad memories, but Eren doesn't even flinch.

"Yep."

"Wasn't he an asshole, though?" Levi asks, "What do you do if you don't want to be engaged to whoever wins?"

Eren doesn't answer, and Levi realizes the answer is obvious—he doesn't have a choice.

"Who all is in on these duels?"

"The student council members," Eren says, "Before you arrived, they were the only duelists here. But we knew you would come."

"How?"

"The letters from the End of the World." Levi vaguely remembers Jean mentioning something about a letter the previous day. "They're letters that all of the duelists got that explain everything I just told you and contained the rings that mark them. The recent ones have been predictions about what will happen in the future, and your arrival was predicted in the last one. I guess you aren't getting them, though. I'm not sure why."

Levi looks down at his ring, turning it on his finger to see the crossed wings. "I got my ring a long time ago when my parents died," he says, "From a great man."

Eren stares across the table at him curiously. "Maybe he was a duelist," he says, "I heard there were duels here even thirty years ago."

"You don't look thirty to me."

"I'm not," Eren says, "It's just what I've heard."

Levi stares hard at Eren. "How long have you been doing this? Does the school know? Or your parents?"

Eren shakes his head. "I only just started doing it last year, but I don't think anyone outside of the student council knows."

"And your parents?"

Eren stares back at him. Levi wonders if he's said the wrong thing, but he doesn't look sad. His expression is blank. "I'm not sure if I had any."

Levi is dumbstruck. How could he _not be sure?_ "Eren, you have to have had some at some point. My parents are dead, but I know they were there once. Someone had to have taken care of you, or at least given birth to you at some point."

Eren looks around the room thoughtfully. "I guess so," he says but doesn't sound convinced.

"Where were you before you came to this school?" He thinks he knows the answer before it comes.

"The first things I remember are all at this school."

The entire thing is slowly getting weirder, but before Levi can ask any further questions, a tinny elevator tune starts playing and Eren pulls his cellphone out of his pocket. He glances at the screen for only a moment before looking to Levi. "It's Jean," he says, and Levi frowns.

"What does he want?"

"He says he's outside, and he wants to talk to us."

Ordinarily, Levi wouldn't be interested, but he wouldn't mind having a word with Kirstein now-he seemed to know what was going on.

The student council vice president is waiting for them on the front lawn within the gates, and when he hears the door to the dorms open, he turns and looks at them both, but only seems to really see Eren. He comes halfway across the courtyard before stopping as he finally notices Levi standing behind the Rose Groom.

"You're Levi, right?" Jean asks in a much quieter voice than usual, "What's your stake in this? What are you going to do with the power inside the Walls?"

Levi shrugs. "Whatever I want, I guess."

Jean glares at him, and then shifts his attention to Eren. "You heard him, right?" he asks, "This guy's just some selfish asshole. He's not noble."

"Well, fuck, I'm only right here, Kirstein."

"He can't become the prince," Jean insists, "But I can. You told me before that I could."

Eren shakes his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm engaged to him."

As the last slivers of sunlight disappear beneath the horizon, the automatic lights in the lamps overhead flicker on. Levi finally notices a sword at Jean's hip—and not one of the wooden practice ones—and wonders where the hell there are swords on campus. "Fine," the vice president seethes, glaring down at him, "Then I challenge you for the Rose Groom. Tonight."

"Whatever," Levi says, and Jean stalks away, slamming the gate behind him. "I've had enough of this," he sighs, and starts walking in the same direction. Eren stumbles to catch up to him.

"Don't listen to him," Eren says, "You just don't understand everything yet, I'm sure you'll-!"

"No," Levi says, "I don't understand it, and that's fine. I don't want anything to do with this."

Eren falters for a moment, falling behind a few steps. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I don't want to see one of the student council douchebags every time I look up," he says, "I'm going to throw the match on purpose." He catches the way Eren looks away from him, the brightness gone from his eyes. "Look, if he gives you any shit, just tell me and I'll take care of it. I don't need to duel him for that."

Eren doesn't reply.

* * *

Levi loses track of Eren at some point on his way across campus, but he keeps walking, certain he'll magically be present at the dueling arena, because that would make sense with the way things have gone. He's getting close to the forest when he hears an enthusiastic, "Extra! Extra!" behind him. He doesn't stop walking. "There's gonna be another duel tonight! Aren't you excited?" He glances over his shoulder once, but doesn't see Hange. He pauses only a moment, then keeps walking.

"Of course you're not," he hears, much closer this time, and whirls around again to find them right in front of him, grinning crazily. "Losing is never fun, even if it is on purpose."

He must be catching on, because he isn't surprised they know.

"But in the end, you have to do the right thing for you, I guess," Hange says, shrugging theatrically before putting a finger to their chin, "Unless, of course, it really _isn't_ the right thing to do?"

Having heard enough, Levi walks around them.

"Life is so complicated!" he hears Hange wail in his wake, "The smart thing, the nice thing, the right thing; why do we have to keep track of so many things? Probably to help us figure out what to do. If what we're doing is at least two of those things, then it's still alright, and if it's just one, it can still be okay."

He reaches the forest and the last thing he hears is a murmur, "But if it's none of the above, then we should really reconsider."

* * *

As predicted, Eren is waiting for him in the dueling arena in the sky, a rose already in his hand. He pins it to Levi's chest, and then moves to do the same for Jean before returning to Levi's side. "You who sleeps at the end of the world," Eren says, pressing his hands to his chest and conjuring a great wind. The light is not nearly as blinding this time. Levi finds himself moving without even thinking about it, arms cradling Eren as he leans back into his grasp, "Heed your master and come forth."

The sword handle manifests and Levi hesitantly reaches for it and gives it a gentle tug, but it doesn't budge. Eren's eyes are still closed when he leans into Levi even further, moving his lips to his ear and whispering, "Tell me what you want more than anything right now."

Levi feels a rush of heat through his body and almost shudders, but he manages to keep his cool, and whispers to Eren, "I wish neither of us had to be doing this," and when he pulls on the sword handle, it moves, and he draws a shining blade from Eren's chest.

The tolling of bells, Levi realizes now, signal the beginning and end of the duel. As soon as their chiming has faded into silence, Jean unsheathes the sword from his hip and runs at Levi. Armed with what he hopes is a real weapon this time, he holds up his sword to block the first strike and a metallic clang resounds through the air. "You don't understand," Jean tells him, "I'm actually going to do something with the power of the Walls. I'm going to change the world."

Levi remembers, dimly, that he intended to lose the duel, and that he should probably put his sword down and offer his rose to Jean. But for some reason, he doesn't.

They parry strikes, steel clashing noisily, and Levi is mildly surprised he's even holding the damn thing right, considering he's never used a sword before in his life. And then Jean lowers his sword to his side, and kicks him in the stomach.

The boy kicks like a horse—Levi finds himself rolling, gasping at the sudden feeling of breathlessness, and looks up to find Jean stalking towards him, sword raised over his head. Levi manages to block it, but the angle is awkward from the ground, and Jean puts his standing weight against him, sending sparks flying.

He sees Eren behind him, hands clasped together in worry, eyes wide. Levi doesn't understand-he told him he was going to lose the duel, so why is he still looking at him like he's...like he's….

Like he's going to save him.

Levi is a hero, he realizes, he's helping someone, being for someone else what the man from his childhood was for him. He is like a prince in a fairy tale, sword and all. He finds the strength to push back against Jean, and slowly rises to his feet. Jean's eyes widen in disbelief, and Levi can see his arms shaking as he struggles to subdue him again, but Levi forces him to stumble back, and in that moment, he dashes forward, swings his sword, and it's over.

The bells ring, and the petals of Jean's rose dance in the breeze.

Levi feels the weight in his hand vanish as the sword disappears, and turns to look at Jean who is again on his knees, his hands on the ground in front of him, his shoulders trembling.

He's crying.

"Levi," he hears Eren say on his left, and he turns to find him with a grin on his face, "Let's go home."

He doesn't move for a minute, staring at Jean, wondering if he should say something, but Jean never looks up or says a word, and eventually, Levi begins to walk away.

* * *

"You said you were going to lose," Eren reminds him when they're back in their dorm room, pulling a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt out of a drawer to sleep in. Levi makes a sound of acknowledgement. "Why didn't you?"

He changes the subject ungracefully. "You told me to tell you what I wanted most back there," he says, "And it's not like I didn't mean that, but I just said the first thing that came to mind. If I tell you I want my parents back, can you do that?"

Eren shakes his head. "Sorry. It doesn't work like that. You just say what you want to get the sword out; I don't think it actually happens unless you get inside the Walls." He shuts the drawer and leans back against it. "Jean would say that he wanted to save Marco, but that didn't happen."

"Who?"

"Marco Bott," Eren supplies, "He's in Jean's class. They're old friends, I think. Marco's really sick, though. He found out just before the new term that he only has a few years left to live."

Levi freezes. "_What_?"

Eren stares at him. "What do you mean, what?"

"So that's what he wants the power for?" Levi asks, "To save someone's life?" He felt like a hero not ten minutes ago, and now he feels like a total dick. "And I just took that away from him?"

"You don't have any power but the sword yet," Eren points out. Levi holds a hand to his forehead as he rises from his chair. "Where are you going?"

"I need a minute," he says weakly, and goes to the bathroom for some privacy, leaning against the door and sliding to the ground.

What has he done? Jean's friend is dying and his only chance to save him is by using the power that comes from winning the duels. Levi feels conflicted, though, because he knows that the power in the Walls could also bring his parents back, and maybe even help him find the man who left him his ring. He can't help but wonder who else is dueling, and what their reasons for doing so might be. Are his desires really so noble? More noble than whatever they might want?

He doesn't know.

He knows it's probably selfish, but he wants them to be.

* * *

**Major deviations from the Utena story will begin starting next chapter.**


	3. Wings of Freedom

**As always, a big thank you to everyone who left review. The romance is going to start creeping in, as are other complicated non-romantic relationships. There's nothing explicit, but I'm bumping up the rating just in case.**

* * *

Levi wakes up hard.

Swearing and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he sits up and notices Eren hanging onto the bunk bed ladder, face dangerously close to his crotch. "Eren," he says, trying to keep his voice even, "What the fuck are you doing?"

The little shit doesn't even look embarrassed. "I woke up before you and heard you groaning in your sleep. I was just checking on you when I noticed…." He at least has enough shame to lower his eyes and blush a little.

Levi scoots away in bed until his back hits the wall, trying to put some distance between them. "Why did you think that would be okay with me?" he demands.

Eren blinks. "We're engaged," he says, like that explains everything.

"Yeah, I understood that after the sixth time you told me, but why…."

Oh. _Oh._

"So this is serious?" he asks, "We're pretty much married now?"

Eren tilts his head like a dog. "What? No, we're not married. You could get married to somebody else while you're engaged to me and it would be fine. Our engagement can be as involved as you want it to be." He glances back down at the tousled sheets. "Are you sure you don't want me to do anything? It doesn't bother me."

"Did you do this with Kirstein, too?" Levi asks, and then immediately regrets asking, _why the fuck did I ask that?! I don't want to know!_

"No," Eren says, "Jean never wanted me to."

Levi relaxes immediately. "Great," he says, "I don't want you to, either."

"Okay." Like he wasn't just propositioning him, Eren climbs down the ladder and nonchalantly sits down. Still a little tense, Levi climbs down from his bunk and tries not to meet Eren's eyes as he heads for the bathroom.

* * *

Levi doesn't know why, but for some reason, ever since meeting Eren, he keeps expecting weird things to happen, so when his routine remains exactly the same as usual—Petra even waits for him at the bridge closest to the east dorm so they can walk some of the way together—he's a little suspicious, just waiting for Hange to pop up and say something cryptic, or someone to pull a sword out of their ass and challenge him. Miraculously, though, days pass, and none of those things happen. He's not sure what the student council is doing, but he's thankful for the brief moment of normalcy.

Although, he has noticed something about Eren; he never says a word while Levi talks to Erd, Gunther, Oluo and Petra unless someone asks him a question directly, in which case he'll reply politely and then go back to staring into space. Yet when they're with his friends, he socializes just fine. It bothers Levi for some reason, so eventually, he says something.

"You can speak up, you know," he tells him, and Eren looks surprised.

"Oh. Okay," he says. He doesn't say a whole lot, but he does at least become part of the conversation, smiling when Petra says something nice, laughing when Oluo says something stupid, and offering a comment of his own from time to time. Levi can see his friends warming up to Eren as the days pass, even if they are wondering where he came from and why Levi is so okay with him.

Inevitably, though, something a little odd happens on the following day over the lunch period. Eren goes with Levi back to his old classroom every day, and though Eren's friends have not warmed up to him very quickly, they tolerate his presence and try to include him. Sasha is trying to tell them about a dress she wants for the school dance while cramming a sandwich in her mouth when the intercom comes on and Levi is called to the headmaster's office. Eren and his friends all look at him worriedly.

"The headmaster?" Connie asks, "Dude, what did you do?"

"Nothing," Levi says with a shrug, "Recently."

Eren doesn't follow him when he gets up, so he makes the journey to the central tower in the middle of campus alone. It's a brief elevator ride up to the top floor and he finds himself in a dimly-lit office, shades drawn and overhead lights off. Tropical fish swim in circles in a tank mounted on the wall to his right casting shades of blue on the ground in front of him as the only source of light besides a desk lamp. When he sees the man standing behind the desk, though, his heart slams into overdrive.

"Have a seat, Levi," the headmaster, Erwin Smith, says, offering a smile in reassurance. Levi has never actually seen the headmaster before, even if his name is thrown around campus a lot, and he's honestly surprised by what he sees. The man is easily six feet, hair neatly combed back and his smile making heat rise to Levi's face. He sits in the armchair across from the desk as Erwin takes his own chair, keeping eye contact the entire time. There's something about him, something like a gentle tapping on Levi's back trying to get his attention, something like forgetting what he's looking for as he walks into a room, and it's on the tip of his tongue.

"You can relax," Erwin says, "You're not in trouble."

Levi is clutching the arm rests of the chair, heartbeat loud in his ears, stomach fluttering like a bird trying to escape a cage. Being in trouble doesn't even make him sweat, and he knows that's not what this feeling is. Levi is not the type to want anything, but he glances at this man who looks like he comes from the perfect utopia Trost claims to be, and he isn't sure he's ever wanted something as much before.

He swallows, clears his throat, tries to quell the wave of excitement rising from within at the way Erwin smiles, perfectly innocent and yet so easy to misconstrue and imagine as meaning something else.

"Then," Levi says, trying to get ahold of himself, "What am I doing here?"

Erwin's smile vanishes suddenly, a solemn expression overtaking his features. "Has anything strange happened to you lately, Levi?"

In the pause it takes for him to gather his thoughts and form an answer, Levi hears the babbling of the fish tank behind him, the only sound in the otherwise silent office. "Why?"

"It's alright," Erwin says gently, "You can tell me. There are a few people on this campus other than the student council who know about the duels."

Levi's eyes widen. "How much do you know?" he asks, voice not much more than a whisper. He doesn't know if he's supposed to talk about it or not.

"Not as much as I'd like," the headmaster admits, "But I'd like to help you."

Erwin's attractiveness and the casual way he speaks to Levi, as though he knows he won't respond well to figures of authority and chooses instead to approach him as an equal, is all disarming, but Levi is still cautious, regarding him with suspicion. "If you wanna know something," he says, "Why don't you ask one of the other duelists? They all know more than me."

Erwin hesitates, and it's obvious he's trying to decide if he should say what he's thinking or not. "They are not receptive to the idea of," he pauses, trying to find the right word, "Cooperating with me."

"Why's that?"

His gaze hardens. "Because I want to put a stop to the duels."

It's not what Levi expects to hear. "You...what?"

"Trost has a dark past," Erwin says, "One that I've been trying to learn from so this school doesn't make the same mistakes in the present. But one thing that seems to repeat ceaselessly, no matter what the administration does, is the duels."

"How long have they been happening?"

Erwin stands from his desk and goes to one of the filing cabinets behind him, digging through it and returning with a manila folder that he passes to Levi. He glances at the man questioningly but opens the folder and spreads the contents out over the desk. It's a collection of class photos that become increasingly older and grainier from what Levi assumes to be Trost Academy, the iconic crossing wings visible in the background of many pictures. The most recent one is a polaroid with "1986" scribbled in the bottom corner, the image above only slightly yellowed by age of an unsmiling group of students, mostly male, all in uniforms that greatly resemble the modern student council's striped ones. In the front and middle stands a small young lady whose intense gaze makes Levi's breath catch in his throat. Her eyes and hair are a bit darker, but her face is so similar that there's no way he can miss the resemblance.

Beside her stands a young man with glasses whose gaze is on her rather than the camera. On the far left end of the lineup is a man who must be a young Erwin, every bit as handsome then as he is now, his eyes straying towards the middle of the group as well. Levi looks up for an explanation, and finds the headmaster still staring down at the photo, expression unreadable.

"I was a student here myself, once upon a time," he says fondly, "I even landed myself a spot on student council. Of course, I wasn't chosen for my leadership skills; none of us were. The letters made that very clear."

"Letter? From the end of the world or something?"

"Yes," Erwin says, "They came almost weekly, and they contained detailed instructions and predictions of the future that would always come to pass." He pauses. "Well...almost always."

"I don't get it," Levi says numbly, "You did this dueling thing, too?"

"No," Erwin shook his head, "I never participated. The others were passing that poor girl around, treating her like property, and I couldn't be a part of that." He smiles bitterly. "That doesn't make me a hero, though. Through the sin of action, I was just as bad as the others, if not worse. I never reached out to her, never tried to help her. Whatever reasons I had then seem like excuses now, and I have many regrets."

Levi pushes the picture aside to look at the others, watching the dates slowly move back. The school remains largely unchanged for several years, but Levi can't help notice as he flips by 1980, 1974, 1968, on and on, no matter how far he goes back and how many different student council members appear in the pictures, the woman in the middle is unquestionably the same.

"You noticed, didn't you?" the headmaster asks, "The Rose Bride is in all of these, and she looks exactly the same, all the way into the fifties."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"School records go back even further," Erwin says, "Class logs from Trost's early days in the late 1800's describe the Rose Bride. She, and, by proxy, the duels themselves, have been here since the founding of the school, maybe even before."

Levi's hands pass over the photos more quickly, almost in disbelief, but they're all the same woman, all with the same long, dark hair and the same rage-filled eyes, the same as someone he knows now. He thinks of Eren who can't remember his parents, whose memories begin at Trost, and begins to wonder.

"She's not here anymore, though, is she?" Levi asks, even though he thinks he already knows the answer.

Erwin shakes his head. "The class of '86 was the last one to see her," he says, "She vanished at the end of the school year. Student council photos since don't include her. But after almost thirty years, the duels are starting again."

_With Eren._

"What was this woman's name?" Levi asks. He just has to be sure.

The headmaster doesn't answer for a moment. "Kalura," he says finally, "Kalura Jeager. The current Rose Groom shares her surname, and I doubt it's a coincidence." Levi feels a shiver run down his spine. The pieces are coming together. There's more to this, he realizes, more to this weird dueling game, something old, older than him and the headmaster, older than maybe even the school.

"But why?" Levi asks. "Why did the duels start in the first place, and why are they still going? What's the point?"

Erwin gathers the photos back together and tucks them back in the folder, standing to put them away. "You must know the point by now," he says with his back turned to Levi as he opens the filing cabinet, "The power to change the world, or so they say. That's what everyone is dueling for. I can only assume no one has been able to harness that power yet. As for why they began at all…" He returns to his desk but doesn't sit down. "I'm afraid that's something only Kalura knows." The atmosphere in the room seems lighter when Erwin smiles again, this time warmly, all of the tension leaving his features. "I don't have all the answers, but I remember what it was like to be involved in something that you don't want any part in. If you ever need someone to talk to, or want some advice, my office is always open to you. Come up whenever you need something."

Levi is speechless for a moment, so unused to someone in a position of authority being helpful rather than antagonistic towards him. Erwin has a certain nobility to him, a smile that is comforting yet sorrowful and burdened by great purpose. Levi recognizes his true motivations from what he's been told—he's guilty that he couldn't save Kalura, that he failed her as a classmate, a friend, a hero.

A prince.

Levi's heart beats faster and he feels for the ring in his pocket on reflex. He knows now that it's not as special as he thought it was, that every duelist gets one, but he can't help but think of what Eren told him when he mentioned he got his from someone.

_Maybe he was a duelist._

He glances at Erwin's hand; he doesn't have a ring. He could've just gotten rid of it, having been disgusted with the duels even then, but still….

"Did you…." Erwin glances at him, and Levi thinks the man must be able to hear his heart beating, it's just so loud. "Were...were you…." This isn't like Levi; if something's on his mind, he just says it, he doesn't stutter and stammer and blush and look at his feet like a little girl trying to talk to her crush on the playground. Erwin is still waiting patiently, smiling, regal and elegant, princely, even. Levi decides he'd rather not know, at least not now. "Never mind. I'll talk to you later, I guess."

"Feel free," Erwin says, sitting down once again.

Levi turns on his heel and speed walks out the door, down the hall, and towards the elevator as what's been nagging at his mind since he walked in finally hits him, and he finds his knees going weak and his face warming with tears.

Erwin's office smells of roses.

* * *

Levi comes back during a free period and finds Eren missing, so he heads towards the first year class, but doesn't find him there, either. Sasha is trying to steal a sandwich out of Connie's hand that he's trying desperately to keep behind his back, and Levi approaches them just as they topple over out of Connie's desk, Sasha sitting on top of him and shouting in surprise and triumph as she finally wrenches the food out of his grip. He clears his throat to get their attention, and they both look up at him like frightened rabbits, hurriedly straightening themselves out and scrambling to their feet.

"I'm looking for Eren," he says simply, trying not to smirk at the embarrassed look on Connie's face.

"He and Mikasa and Armin went to the music room," he says hurriedly, and Levi nods, starting back towards the middle of campus.

The central school building is built in an upside-down "U" shape, housing the central tower in the middle, and is home to many extracurricular classrooms and the school library. Levi walks through it a lot when he wanders campus because most of the teachers there have their hands full making sure nobody sets anything on fire in culinary arts and won't notice him walking by the door. He's just gone inside from the outdoor hallway when he hears a song being played on the piano by an expert hand, and he peeks through the door before he actually goes in. Armin, the scrawny blonde who had opened up to Levi the slowest-probably because he's the smartest of Eren's friends-is seated at the bench, eyes closed and body swaying just a bit as his hands pass gracefully over the keys. Eren and Mikasa stand nearby listening, and even though Levi hasn't been at the door long and doesn't think he's too noticeable, Eren suddenly looks up and smiles at him. Levi opens the door just as the song is ending, coming to join Eren and Mikasa and waiting until Armin is finished to say anything. When he notices Levi standing there, he almost jumps out of his skin.

"I didn't see you come in," he says.

"You were preoccupied," Levi says. He notices there isn't any sheet music sitting in front of him. "You're pretty good."

"Not really," Armin says, flushing self-consciously.

"Armin, would you just accept the compliment?" Mikasa asks.

"Sorry," Armin mutters, turning away from the piano completely, "I'm not trying to be difficult, but I was actually better when I was younger."

"Come on," Eren says, "You're just more critical of yourself now that you're older."

"No," Armin insists, "It's more complicated than that. I...lost something." He glances up at his friends with a small smile. "When we're together like this, though, it makes me feel better. Like nothing's missing after all."

The statement is ambiguous, but Levi notices the way Armin looks specifically at Eren, who obliviously smiles back. He's about to say something when the door opens again, and someone he doesn't recognize walks in. She's petite, smaller than Armin or Connie, hair a light blond held in a ponytail with a purple hair tie with her bangs falling on either side of her face. Levi doesn't recognize her from Eren's class, but Armin stands shakily from the piano bench, eyes wide and locked on her.

Levi's gaze passes between them. The girl looks at Armin for a long time, then glances at Eren, Mikasa, and finally Levi, apparently dismissing all three of them because she looks at Armin again and smiles. It's cruel, devoid of warmth and humanity, making dark promises. "I knew I'd find you in here," she says, voice deceptively soft, "You never change, Armin."

Armin is shaking. "I thought you said you were going to transfer out this year," he says. Though his voice is controlled, Levi can see the fear in his eyes, but he isn't cowering.

"Changed my mind," she says with a shrug, "Enough about me, though. You seem to be doing well." She glances at Eren. "Except you still think your playing sucks."

"The song sounds better as a duet," Armin says.

Annie looks at him sharply. "Guess you'll have to get the Groom to practice piano, huh?" she says coldly, "Shouldn't be hard. He'll do whatever you tell him once you're engaged."

Levi's eyes fly to her hands, but he doesn't see a ring. When he looks up, though, he notices someone leaning against the doorway, tall enough to cast an intimidating shadow into the room. The stripes on his uniform mark him as student council, and the color-rose red-indicate that he's the president. He's tall, maybe even as tall as the headmaster, and looks about as easy to move as a brick wall. Levi doesn't want to imagine what dueling this guy would be like. "Annie," he says sternly, "That's enough."

She looks over her shoulder, and then offers Armin one last glance before she walks away, following the student council president and disappearing as the door shuts behind her. All eyes fall on Armin then, who falls back onto the piano bench with his head in his hands. Levi is waiting for him to give his side of the story or deny what she said, but he never does.

"Armin," Mikasa asks, "Who was that?"

Levi would like to know, too, but he has other things on his mind, like what Annie said earlier about the Groom; obviously, she knows about the duels and has some connection to student council, but from Armin's reaction, so does he. He'd just assumed all of Eren's friends were safe because, well, they were his friends. He didn't stop to think that they might do the same as him and just hide their ring when they needed to. He looks at Eren and finds him staring down at Armin with disbelief and hurt.

The music room is uncharacteristically silent for a long moment. "Armin," Mikasa urges again, but still doesn't receive an answer. Levi doesn't know what to say, so he starts to leave, not surprised when he hears Eren follow.

"Wait," Armin cries suddenly, on his feet, "Wait, Eren!"

Eren rounds on him then, hurt replaced by rage. "Give me one good reason," he seethes, "Because I can't think of a single one right now, Armin."

"I'm not like them," Armin says, the desperation in his voice reminding Levi of Jean weeks ago, "I would never make you do anything you don't want to do. We've been friends for years, Eren, don't tell me this really changes the way you see me?"

The long silence that follows tells him everything he needs to know. Armin gets up and storms out of the music room, not saying a word more. Levi sees his face red with embarrassment and tears as he passes. The door slams behind him.

Mikasa looks upset and confused and angry all at the same time, and when Eren and Levi look back at her, she says, "Nobody else leaves this room until I get the whole story."

* * *

The sun is setting by the time Levi and Eren have convinced Mikasa that no, she cannot just go and beat up the entire student council to fix this, and no, Levi is not like Jean at all and is treating Eren fine. They're only dragged out of their conversation when the school's piano club shows up wanting to use the room-Armin notably not among them despite being a member-and Levi suddenly realizes that he skipped the entire afternoon and that Petra is going to give him an earful tomorrow.

"If there's anything I can do," Mikasa says for the fortieth time as she walks both of them back to their dorm, "Anything at all, you'll let me know right away, won't you?"

"Yes," Eren promises again, sounding tired. He's smiling a little, probably embarrassed but all the same glad to know Mikasa cares so much.

She finally leaves them when they reach the east dorm's gates, though she stops Levi before he can go inside, leaning in to whisper so Eren can't hear, "I'm trusting you with him."

He raises a brow. "Okay?"

"You don't understand how important Eren is to me."

"I think I can make a guess."

"I'm serious, Levi," she says, and he hears the heartache in her voice, "Until we find some way to get Eren out of this, do me a favor."

"Sure."

She looks him dead in the eye, and for the first time in Levi's memory, her face betrays her feelings- Fear, frustration, and overwhelming helplessness. "Promise me," she says, voice cracking, "That you won't lose."

Levi rests one of his hands on Mikasa's shoulder and gives a reassuring squeeze. "I promise," he says quietly. When he lets go, Mikasa takes a good, hard look at him, telling him she'll be holding him to it, and slowly, reluctantly, walks away.

Levi finds Eren lying on his stomach on the bottom bunk, face buried in a pillow. He almost walks by him, figuring he wants a moment to himself, but he hears a sniffle and freezes in place. Eren goes rigid as if he can feel Levi's eyes on him, but after a moment, his shoulders tremble.

He's _crying_.

"Eren," Levi says, and then again, softer, when the kid doesn't move, "Eren, get up." He can barely make out the "no," that's muffled through bed sheets and tears. With a heavy sigh, Levi sits on the edge of the bunk by Eren's feet. "I'm not gonna pretend I know what to say," he mutters, "Honestly, I've never been in your situation before. Haven't had to deal with anyone betraying my trust because I don't have a whole lot of friends." His frown deepens. "And the ones I have I don't really let in." He thinks of Petra, the pathetic look on her face when she asked if he was lonely spending all day by himself and he'd said he wasn't. And she had known he was lying. "You told me all the duelists are doing what they do for a reason," he says, "You were even able to feel sorry for that asshole Kirstein. I don't really know Armin, but he said he'd lost something, too. He's probably got a lot on his mind."

Eren turns slightly to peek at Levi, hiding the lower half of his face in his arm. His eyes are rimmed red and tear tracks run down his cheeks, but Levi still sees that fire in him, the will to fight. "Sorry," Eren mumbles, "I'm supposed to be doing things for you, not crying. I'm not very good at this whole Groom thing."

"Eren, I don't care what kind of magic powers you have," Levi says, "Your cleaning is never going to make me happy, so give up on that now. Actually, forget the entire engagement thing. We're roommates, and anything beyond that is up to you." Levi's eyes soften. "What do _you_ want, Eren?"

Eren looks surprised. He sits up a little, propping himself up on his arms, and he's silent, brows furrowed like he's thinking hard. Levi wonders if anyone's ever asked him before. Finally, he turn to look at Levi, expression determined. "I want," he says, "Freedom." He blinks, looking down at Levi's hand. "Huh."

"What?"

"I just remembered something," Eren says, "The school crest has a name. It's called the Wings of Freedom. Don't know why I just thought of it."

Wings of Freedom. Levi files that away in memory and gazes down at the signet ring, running his fingertip over the pattern. "I like it," he decides.

Eren smiles. "Me, too."

Levi intended to ask Eren about Kalura, if the name sounded familiar or if he should bring a photo for him to look at sometime, but he looks so happy right now that he doesn't want to ruin the moment. There's a lot that he still doesn't know about the duels, and every answer only seems to raise more questions, but Levi is confident that he'll figure things out as he goes. He promised Mikasa he would look out for Eren, but even if he hadn't, he has to admit that the kid is growing on him. It doesn't matter who comes at him—Kirstein, Armin, or even the student council president—Levi is going to keep winning. And then….

Then...what?

He hasn't thought that far ahead yet. The Walls are still up there, and the power to change the world is still waiting to be claimed. Of course, he isn't seriously thinking about it. He's going to focus on finding a way to free Eren from the dueling altogether. It's the right thing to do in this situation, he's pretty sure. The student council doesn't need that kind of power, and neither does he. Power to change the world. Power to restore what one has lost. Power to bring back the dead.

Levi doesn't need it.

He thinks it over and over again, _I don't need it._

He can talk himself into it eventually.

* * *

**Next weekend I'm going to be out of town and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to update. Sorry in advance! **


	4. For Friendship

Hours before the school bell will ring and moments before sunrise, Levi finds Jean Kirstein standing on the bridge to campus. He lifts his head to acknowledge Levi's presence and then goes back to staring down at the water. "You look like shit," he mutters.

"I could say the same to you." The student council Vice President has dark circles under his eyes and his hands are shaking like an addict fighting pangs of withdrawal.

"What're you doing out here?" he asks, "Can't sleep? Nightmares?"

Levi hesitates to answer.

"It's normal," Jean continues, "Just a side effect of being engaged. I hear some people don't get them, but...well, I did."

"I didn't say yes," Levi snaps.

"It's written on your face."

Levi rests his arms on the guardrail and leans over the edge, staring down at the first lines of sunlight streaking across the water. Honestly, he hasn't been having nightmares, but he kind of wishes he was. It would be a little easier to handle than the kind of dreams he _is_ having. He rests his chin on his hand, hoping Jean doesn't see the flush on his face. "Normal, huh?" he muses.

Jean nods. A chilly morning breeze sends ripples out over the surface of the river and he shivers, changing the subject abruptly. "You ever heard the stories about this river?" he asks, "They say it was here before the school. A long time ago, some lady drowned her baby in it. Supposedly."

"Haven't heard that." Levi clears his throat in the following silence, trying to figure out the best way to phrase what he wants to say. "Hey, I...the duels and all this...it's nothing against you personally."

"Stop," Jean says sharply, and looks at Levi for the first time during their conversation, "I don't want your sympathy. You won, you get the Groom. If I ever grow a pair, I'll come challenge you again."

Levi inhales, holds his breath in, exhales. He's really bad at this. "What are you dueling for?"

The student council vice president is silent for a long time. The sun creeps over the horizon and casts gold onto his face, and Levi looks up and sees the image of a prince; noble, courageous, burdened by his purpose. "It's not for me," he says softly, "it's for someone else."

Levi nods in understanding. "Me, too."

Jean glances at him. "You know," he says slowly, reluctantly, "I think I might have misjudged you. I guess you'd make a decent prince after all." His frown deepens. "But that doesn't mean I like you."

Levi rolls his eyes. "Feeling's mutual, Kirstein."

They stand in silence a moment longer before Jean steps back from the railing. "Do me a favor," he says, "And don't lose to anyone but me."

Levi lets out a sharp laugh. "Don't worry, I don't like losing."

* * *

Jean arrives at the top of the central tower, stepping out into the warm air and taking a seat in one of the open chairs around the card table. "Been a while since you've come around," the student council president says across from him, "Decided to get back in the game?"

"Not yet," he says, "I'm just waiting for my next chance."

"He wants to swoop in when we've all tired ourselves out by fighting one another," says the treasurer who sits with their legs crossed, smirking, "Come on, Kirstein, you can't pull the same shit twice. One of these days, the Walls are gonna come down, and I'll be dammed if one of you has the Groom when it happens."

"What the fuck does it matter to you?" Jean growls, "You don't even believe in any of it."

"I'm just saving you all from yourselves. You all want to buy into this miracle shit, be my guest, but you're gonna be real disappointed when you get into the Walls and find nothing."

"If you feel that way, then how about you do us a favor and drop out of the game?"

"It doesn't matter," the president interrupts, "Those who hold the rings hold the right to duel. Whether you believe that the power to change the world exists or not doesn't matter."

"That doesn't make any fucking sense," Jean insists, turning back to the treasurer, sitting with a smirk on their face, "Why did you even agree to start dueling if you were so sure it was for nothing from the very beginning? How can you even still believe that with everything you've seen?"

"Look, Kirstein, I don't expect you to understand. I'm not saying there's no magic; I'm saying there are no miracles." Their voice suddenly becomes quieter. "You've heard the stories. There's something fucked up going on here. I don't trust the Rose Groom, and neither should you."

The president turns to the final member present, the secretary. "You've been awfully quiet all meeting," he says, "Don't have anything to add?"

With a jacket decorated with stripes of blue, gaze directed down at the table and eyes clouded in the midst of thought, Armin Arlert shrugs. "Not really."

"Still moping from his fight with the Groom yesterday," the treasurer sneers.

The president glances at him. "I thought you only befriended him to get him to trust you?"

Armin doesn't answer at first. "Things change," he eventually mutters.

Across the table, Jean sees opportunity. He knows it won't be easy to get the other two to charge into a duel-they're much more experienced and careful than him or Armin-but he has to start somewhere. He has to bide his time, wait for the signs that the Walls are going to move, and that's when he'll strike.

"Armin," he says quietly, "You know how to fix things between you two."

"It wouldn't be the same," the smaller duelist says, "If Eren is engaged to me, we can't be friends anymore. He...he wouldn't be the same."

"No, he wouldn't. He'd be whatever you want him to be."

Armin pauses. "It's not right," he says, much more reluctantly than he should.

"It's right if what you want is for him to go back to normal."

The words make him fall silent. Jean can see the wheels turning in his head.

The president clears his throat. "If it's alright with everyone, we should get back on task," he says, and the silence that follows is taken as assent.

Armin doesn't say a word for the rest of the meeting; he's too busy thinking. The others haven't seen him like this before, but they see the cold calculation in his eyes and know he's going to give the outsider one hell of a fight.

Jean hopes Armin loses, because he's seen him practice his swordcraft before, and he'd rather not duel him.

* * *

Petra stops Levi on his way out during the lunch break with a hand on his arm and a hopeful smile. "Hey, you eat lunch with the first years almost every day," she says, "Why don't you stay this time?"

"Can't," he says, "I have to keep an eye on Eren." He regrets the words almost as soon as they're out of his mouth. Petra is looking at him expectantly, waiting for elaboration. "Student council treats him like he's their bitch. Every time I look up, someone's harassing him."

"Levi," Petra says gently, smiling a little wider, "You can just say that Eren is a friend."

"We're not friends."

"I'm just not used to you having friends other than the four of us." She stops, looking embarrassed, and Levi just shrugs. It's not like she's wrong. Although Levi has never really stopped to think about the nature of his relationship with Eren other than roommates. Now that he finally convinced the kid to drop the whole "engagement" nonsense, he supposes they could be friends. "Go on. But let Eren know he's welcome to eat with us, too."

"Sure."

Levi makes his way through the building and to Eren's class, but finds him, Mikasa and Armin curiously absent again. Connie and Sasha have pushed their desks together and are playing cards, and without even looking up, Connie says, "Check the courtyard," so he goes back the way he came. Draped in shadows cast by the midday sun, Levi can see the three of them standing outside from the open-air hallway, Mikasa next to Eren with her arms crossed over her chest, and Armin standing opposite both of them looking a bit more confident than the previous day.

"As much as I appreciate the apology," he hears Eren say, "It's not like it fixes everything. You never told me you were a duelist, Armin. It's hard not to feel like you were just using me."

"That's why I have to explain everything to you," Armin says, "From the beginning." Levi chooses to linger in the hallway, unsure if showing himself will make the student council member have second thoughts. "The girl you saw yesterday was Annie. We were next-door neighbors growing up and became close friends. We even ended up in the same class at Trost for most of elementary school. What brought us together was a mutual love for the piano."

Levi can still hear the song Armin was playing the other day in his head-slow, soft, just a little sad. It almost sounded like a work in progress, as though it was incomplete or only one lonely half of a duet.

"We were both quite talented, and we performed frequently for both school functions and events in town. But one night, before a big show we were supposed to have at the civic center, I got sick. It shouldn't have been a problem, because we were both good enough to play by ourselves." Armin pauses for a minute, as though hesitant to continue. "But Annie had only participated in big events like that because I was there with her. She was terrified of playing alone. It might seem like a small thing, but we were only children at the time. Annie thought I'd abandoned her, and she's never been the same since. She's also held it against me for years."

"But you didn't do anything," Eren says, "It's not like you wanted to get sick."

Armin shakes his head helplessly. "Of course not. But that's the way things are now. I've tried talking to her, but...she's not the kind of person who thinks that talking changes things. I want to go back and do things over again. Even if I get sick, I want to be there for her. I don't want her to become the way she is now."

"You want to go back," Eren says quietly in realization, "You want to live that day again, but differently this time. That's why you started dueling."

"I got my first letter from the End of the World when I was still in junior high," he admits, "It told me who you were and what I had to do. The other duelists had already been chosen by then, and I heard the way they talked about you. They didn't even think of you as a human being, just as a tool to get what they wanted. I didn't become friends with you because I was better than them; I just thought I was doing the smart thing, that maybe if you liked me I'd have some sort of advantage."

Mikasa's hands are visibly shaking at her sides. Armin is quick to continue, "But that changed after I got to know you. You really cared about me; whenever I was having a bad day, you'd try to cheer me up, and if someone was bothering me, you'd make them back off. Suddenly, the Rose Groom wasn't just a name that went with power. Getting to know you put a human face on all of that, and I couldn't think of you as a thing. Instead, I thought of you as my friend." Having heard enough, Levi steps out into the courtyard. "I understand if you're still angry with me, but I thought you deserved to know the whole truth." Armin looks at the ground. "That way you know I'm sincere when I say that I still want to be your friend."

Eren looks torn between wanting to punch Armin in the face and cry, but when he sees Levi coming up behind Armin, he quickly runs to his side. Levi's eyes pass over a bewildered Mikasa and an impatient Armin. "Right on time," Armin mutters, and slips his ring onto his finger, "I challenge you for the Rose Groom."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he asks, "After everything you just said about Eren being your friend, you're still going to do this?"

He shakes his head. "It doesn't matter," he says, "I met Eren in middle school, before he was engaged to anyone. Now that the duels have started, we can't be friends anyway." Levi is surprised when the brat actually dares to make eye contact. "You must've noticed by now. Think back to when you first met Eren and he was engaged to Jean. He seemed different then, didn't he?"

Levi wasn't paying much attention to Eren then, but the only difference he can really think of is how he was always pissed off. He doesn't see nearly the anger he did before, but he's pretty sure being engaged to Kirstein could do that to a person. "What about it?"

"That's how engagement works," Armin says, "I can't believe you haven't figured it out already."

Levi glances at Eren, not sure what he's supposed to have figured out. He looks to Mikasa and finds her staring, numb with shock, as though she's just realized something.

"Jean thinks he has the noblest reasons for dueling, but since he's so secretive about what those reasons are, nobody on the council believes him," Armin says, "He wanted—needed—to be understood, and to be understood, he needed someone who thought and acted the way he did. When Eren became engaged to him, he adopted all of Jean's mannerisms and traits, including his short temper." Levi doesn't like the way Armin is looking at him now. "You understand now, right? That person isn't Eren; not really. It's the Rose Groom with your desires projected onto him. I knew Eren before and remember what he was like. I want, more than anything, to have my friend back. If I win, he'll be back to normal, because that's what I want."

"Are you sure that's what'll happen?" Levi asks, "It seems to me that he'll just be whatever you want him to be. Even if he still resents you for keeping the fact that you were a duelist from him, he'll still be your friend because that's what you want."

Armin is unfazed. "The sooner the dueling games end, the better it'll be for everyone," he says. Levi knows he won't be able to change his mind.

"Fine," he says at last, "Dueling arena tonight, then?"

Armin nods, and looks at Eren with a pained expression once more before leaving.

* * *

"I never thought about it that way," Mikasa says quietly. Classes are over for the day, and Levi, Eren, and all of his friends-except for Armin, of course-are standing on the bridge, going unheard over the chatter of passersby on their way back to the dorms. Eren is a few feet away with Connie and Sasha, laughing about something, seemingly unaffected by the conversation earlier that day. "But he's right, Eren does change. It's happened every time."

"How many people have won him before?" Levi asks.

"I think everyone but Armin. The duels started last year, but Armin wasn't participating then. The person who's student council president now was just a regular member then. He came out of nowhere and suddenly Eren started spending all of his time with him. He must've won a duel."

"How did Eren act?"

She thinks for a minute. "He was quiet," she says, "And he was really mellow, but not in a normal way. He never seemed to be upset by things, even when they were important. There was one time someone hit a baseball through the window during home ec, and Eren cut his hands really bad on the glass trying to pick it up. He acted like he didn't notice."

She looks out over the river as a couple of geese land in the water, preening and cleaning themselves. "He became really distant from us. He got transferred into a different class and moved into a different dorm, and he wouldn't even come around for lunch." Levi follows her gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable. The same thing happened when he won his duel, except Eren had gone back to his old class of his own free will.

"And then one day, he changed," Mikasa continues, "He came to see us now and then, but he was so cynical and apathetic. He skipped class almost constantly and his grades started to slip. We never saw who he was "engaged" to, but it didn't last very long. The next thing we knew, he changed again. This went on all last year and into the summer. Most of the student council from last year graduated and they aren't here anymore, but at least two members have one more year left. Jean Kirstein transferred from another school over the summer. He'd been engaged to Eren for less than a week when you beat him."

There's something Levi wants to know, but he really doesn't want to ask it. He glances back over at Eren again, who notices and looks back at him with a goofy smile. "How about now?" Levi asks hesitantly.

Mikasa doesn't answer for a long time. Eventually, the crowd dies down as most of the students make their way off campus. They stand in silence watching birds pass overhead and the sun start to set, before she finally says, "You know, I think this is the closest he's been to his real self in a while."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She doesn't smile, but her voice is softer, less worried. "It's mostly little things, like the way he laughs or the things that make him happy, and it's not perfect, but it's close. With the student council, it always seemed like Eren was rehearsing for a play, like he was constantly trying to get into character by being someone completely different. Now, it's like that character is himself, and he's just trying to remember his lines."

A weight instantly lifts itself from Levi's shoulders. "I'm glad to hear that."

Mikasa stands up straight from the railing and looks Levi dead in the eye. "So, tonight," she says seriously, "You have to win."

* * *

Levi kills a few hours doing homework before he heads out again under twilight. He's just gotten to the bridge back to campus when he sees someone on the opposite side, and as he gets closer, he realizes it's Hange. Startled by the lack of bizarre greeting, he stops in his tracks. "Surprised?" they ask, "Sometimes, people don't act the way you think they will. Just when you get used to things being a certain way, it turns out they were hiding something from you all along. I'm not always loud, you know, I can be pretty quiet, too."

Hange has been a mystery, but a consistent one, and Levi has learned that his questions tend to answer themselves if he just waits, so he's never interrupted them in the midst of a speech. More often than not, he finds himself reflecting on the words later or hearing them in a dream. Sometimes, it's exactly what he needs to hear.

"Now you're wondering how to prepare for the unexpected," Hange says with a grin, "And you're going to have to wonder a while longer, because I don't have an answer. I don't give answers. I give advice. So here's a piece, free of charge, because you couldn't afford it anyway; be flexible! If someone surprises you by showing a side you've never seen before, then you need to return the favor." They pause. "Of course, this only works for those well-versed in the art of deception and manipulation. Good, honest people who put their entire selves up for scrutiny have nothing to hide, which is why you should never tell them your surprise party plans." Levi nods to show he's listening, but Hange doesn't move. "We always seem to be having these one-sided conversations. You can speak up, you know, you're not the Rose Groom. You're entitled to your opinion."

"What, the Rose Groom isn't?" Levi asks.

"Are you kidding?" Hange scoffs, "You know why people like roses, right? Because they're pretty. They're pretty as long as you don't touch them and you don't think too hard about them, because if you touch them, they just sting you, and if you think really hard, well, they're really not all that special or different from other flowers. And yet, they've been adopted as this universal symbol of beauty and love. I mean, what's the big deal?" They wait a beat, apparently expecting a response, but just as Levi opens his mouth, they cut him off. "Trick question, roses aren't special. We give them significance and they _become_ special. It's all in your head."

"What does this have to do with Eren?"

"What _doesn't _it have to do with Eren?" Finally, they step to the side. Now that he knows he can talk back, Levi has more questions, but Hange has produced a nail file from seemingly thin air and is obviously no longer invested in the conversation. Just as he walks by, they say, "Oh, hey, before you go, here's something; no two swords are the same. They might look awfully similar, but the real ones, the old ones, those are crafted by the blood, sweat and tears of human beings, and if you look real close, you can distinguish an artisan's blade from a cheap knockoff."

Levi glances over his shoulder, but they're gone. He still catches a few words as he continues walking. "A fake sword might mess somebody up, but a real one can cut down Walls."

* * *

The bells are tolling.

Armin's blade resembles a fencing saber, but it ends in a deadly point rather than the safe ends that the ones used by the school fencing club have. Levi clutches the phantom sword handle with both hands. "You sure you wanna go through with this?" Levi asks even though he doesn't need to. Armin's eyes are locked on his with laser focus. He spreads his legs apart, holds the sword forward and raises his other hand in an arc over his head. Levi watches his feet and holds his breath, waiting for him to move first. He blinks, and Armin is right in front of him.

The first time he lunges, Levi bends backwards, hand flying to his rose protectively and the blade flies past his face, missing his nose by inches. Armin should not be underestimated for his size, he realizes. What he lacks in brute strength he makes up for in technique and speed. Levi finds himself on the defensive, ducking out of Armin's strikes without enough time between to counter. He stumbles once but catches himself with his hand and rolls to safety when Armin closes in for the finishing strike, thorns on the rose stems catching his skin and dotting his fingers in red.

"I don't want to hurt you," Armin says despite the killing intent in his eyes and the saber pointing at Levi from several feet away, "But I'm the only one who can save Eren. I remember what he was like before. I can see him suffering now."

"Don't give me that bullshit," Levi says angrily and lunges, growling when Armin parries the strike harmlessly and dashes to the side, trying to strike him from his blind spot. Levi catches his sword against his own and pushes back, surprised to find Armin holding his own fairly well. "You're not going to 'save Eren,'" he snarls, "You're going to get the chance to live your childhood over again, and when everything is the way you want it, you'll forget all about him."

"What about you?" Armin challenges, legs shaking as Levi puts his entire weight against him, "You act noble, but really, you're in this because you want something, too. What happens when your wish is granted?"

Levi doesn't answer. Armin pulls his sword back and slips out from underneath him, and he doesn't catch himself in time, momentum sending him face-first into the roses. He turns onto his back just in time to see Armin pulling back to strike and twists his body out of the way, his free arm grabbing Armin's wrist and yanking him roughly onto the ground beside him. Levi has him pinned before he can recover, trapping his sword hand over his head in a bruising grip. He looks down at Armin, twisting and writhing, desperate to keep fighting, and he clutches the rose on Armin's chest and rips it away.

Armin goes still, eyes wide. Levi hears the bells ringing and gets off of him, staring down at the boy lying in the roses, tears rolling down his cheeks. "No," Armin whimpers, "No, please, give me another chance...I meant what I said. I…." He struggles to sit up only so he can look at Eren who regards him coolly from the center of the garden. "Eren, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You have to believe me, I just wanted to help you. I don't want you to hate me."

Eren doesn't say anything.

"Eren," Armin pleads, crawling towards him on his hands and knees, oblivious to the thorns catching his uniform and tearing into his hands. Levi can't watch and turns away; he's seen this before with Jean, but knowing Armin was his friend makes it worse somehow. Eren enters his line of sight a moment later.

"Levi," he says with a smile as though nothing happened, as though Armin isn't sobbing at his feet, "Let's go home." It's the same every time. Levi is torn, wanting to do something, say something, but he isn't a hero. He doesn't know how to fix this. He nods to Eren, but before he leaves, he looks back down at the boy crying into the flowers.

"Armin," he says, and the student council secretary doesn't look up but his cries die down to whimpers, "If you two were really friends, then he'll go back to you of his own free will. You don't need to win a duel for that."

Armin doesn't make any indication that he heard or appreciated his words, but Eren tugs on Levi's sleeve and he ends up leaving the kid there, still on his hands and knees. He's halfway down the arena staircase and he can still hear him crying.

* * *

The walk home is silent.

Eren doesn't say anything, eyes on the pavement just a step behind Levi, and Levi doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't speak, either. They're almost back to the dorms when Levi hears Eren's footsteps stop, and he turns to find the boy with his back towards him, gaze turned towards the sky. "What?" Levi asks.

The moon is reflected in Eren's eyes, beautiful and eerie at the same time. "The Walls," he says, "They're coming down." Levi can feel his heart beating faster. He hasn't had enough time to think about everything yet. "Not all the way," Eren adds, "But they're a little lower than before."

"Why?"

"I dunno." Eren turns to him. "It's a good thing, though. Once they come all the way down to the dueling arena, you get the power that's inside."

His expression is eager but something is off about his voice. Levi thinks he sounds hesitant, or maybe disappointed, but he might be imagining things. He's glad he still has time to think things through, though.

* * *

Mikasa greets them with an appreciative smile the next day at lunch when Levi arrives with Eren, and he returns it reassuringly. The duels have become equally important to him, and his desire to keep winning has grown. An oblivious Connie and Sasha start arguing about who the better actor is in the TV drama they've been watching, but their conversation dies when the classroom door opens and Armin walks in.

The council secretary gives a tight smile as he passes them and goes to sit by himself at his seat by the windows, looking truly miserable. Levi notices he isn't wearing his dueling ring, as usual. Nobody talks for a long time, and then Eren calls, "Armin, what are you doing all the way over there? Come sit with us."

Armin's eyes widen and Levi thinks he might cry, but he manages to keep himself together, hurrying over to the circle of desks and taking the empty chair beside Eren. As if nothing happened, conversation resumes. Mikasa glances at Armin warily, but Eren pipes up now and then and asks Armin for his opinion, and the meaning of this gesture is obvious to all of them; he's been forgiven.

Levi watches them interact, happy for Armin but happier for Eren, and hopes that the former doesn't do anything to screw this up.

* * *

"Armin is skipping today's meeting, it seems," the student council president says.

Beside him at the table, the treasurer laughs. "He's not coming back. He's friends with the Groom again, and he's too scared to rock the boat. That's one competitor out of the running."

"I don't know," Jean says uncertainly, "Armin isn't the type to just give up. You really think he's going to stop dueling just because of that?"

"Jesus, Kirstein, what are you so worried about?" the treasurer asks, "You got what you wanted, didn't you? Got him all upset so he'd duel, and now he lost the will to fight, and you don't have to worry about dueling him yourself."

Jean's cheeks are dusted with red in embarrassment. "That's not what I wanted."

"You're such a shitty liar."

"I have to agree with Jean on this one," the president cuts in, "Armin will probably come back. He sees the Rose Groom on a daily basis; friendship alone isn't going to stop him from trying to get back what he lost."

The vice president slumps in his chair. "What the hell is wrong with us?" he asks, "This isn't right. We all know that."

"What's right depends on the person," the president insists, "If you want your wish granted, you'll fight for the Rose Groom. That's just how it is."

The treasurer crosses their arms over their chest. "Damn," they mutter, "Even if Armin comes back, it's not gonna make a difference. None of us are strong enough to beat the last duelist."

"Maybe," Jean says softly, "Levi could…."

"No," the president says, "He isn't strong enough. None of us are."

An ominous silence settles over the three of them.


	5. The Prince

The next building over from the gymnasium is the athletics hall, a building with more specialized facilities for all of Trost's extracurricular activities. The fencing club has practice matches there immediately after classes every other day, and the kendo club uses it about an hour after them. Levi's never been the team sport type so he's never been in there, but he finds himself drawn to it a few days after his duel with Armin, the kid's speed and vicious strikes still at the forefront of his mind. At the time, adrenaline had been pumping through his veins and he hadn't been scared so much as determined to win, but he has nightmares sometimes about faceless assailants with swords stabbing him over and over again, piercing his legs and arms and hands and heart, and long after he wakes he still feels the pain. He wonders if this is what Jean had been talking about.

Jean and Armin aren't exactly the most threatening people at Trost, but Levi has seen the student council president and he can only imagine what other members-if there are any-might be like. So far, he's only been challenged by first years with just a bit more experience than him. He's worried the next duel won't be so easy.

So after a fairly uneventful day-Connie and Sasha fought over who should eat the last French fry, Mikasa grilled him on whether anything new had happened, Petra and the others had talked about weekend plans-he tells Eren he'll catch up with him later and heads to the athletics hall.

He hears the squeaking of shoes across the gymnasium floor as he pokes his head in the door and glances around. There are seven people in fencing uniforms throughout the hall, all but one paired up and practicing. Levi shuts the door behind him and approaches the only person standing still against the far wall, but his steps slow as he realizes who it is.

Jean Kirstein frowns when his eyes meet Levi's, but he gives a nod in acknowledgement. "Ackerman."

"Kirstein." Levi glances over his shoulder at the others. "So you're in the fencing club."

"I'm not a regular member or anything, I just like to get some practice in now and then," he says with a shrug. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm…" Levi pauses, "Observing."

Jean raises a brow. "What, getting scared? You've won three consecutive duels. Most people would've lost the Groom by now."

"I figured it wouldn't hurt."

"Fair enough." Jean keeps his eyes on the other students fencing. "I'm, uh, sorry about before. You know."

Levi doesn't look at him, either. "You don't need to apologize to me, Kirstein. I'm starting to get it by now. Everyone is in this for some reason. Nobody wants to lose."

"Yeah, well. I was acting like a dick, and I know it."

Levi doesn't disagree. "I'm sorry, too," he say quietly, "For winning. I heard about...your reason."

Jean looks at him with wide eyes, but his surprise lessens a moment later. "Oh. So you know?"

"Yeah."

He nods. "Then you understand why I fought the way I did. Why it meant so much."

"Yeah, I get it."

"What about you? I mean, who are you dueling for?"

Levi hesitates to answer, but he supposes it's only fair. "My parents," he says, very quietly, like he's afraid someone else might hear him.

"They're sick?"

"They're dead."

Jean is silent for a long time. "Sorry to hear that, man."

"It's funny," Levi says, "Before, I'd made peace with it. It happened a long time ago, so I've had time to think about it and move on. Then I met Eren, and…."

Jean's eyes narrow. "You should be careful with him."

"What?"

"There's something wrong with him. I don't know what it is, but there's something just…I dunno." He closes his eyes. "He isn't normal. He probably isn't human."

Levi almost laughs. "What the hell is he, then?"

"I dunno." Jean shakes his head. "Something dangerous."

"He doesn't seem dangerous."

"He changes," Jean insists, "He knows, without even asking, what you want and need most, and he turns into that. That seems pretty dangerous to me."

"I don't think he means to do it."

"Who told you that?" the student council vice president presses, "One of those kids he hangs out with? What makes you think he didn't do the same to them? Read their minds and turn into whatever they wanted?"

Levi wants to argue, but he isn't sure why. Jean has a point-Levi doesn't know Connie or Sasha very well, but he knows Eren was precisely the hero Mikasa needed and even managed to make Armin his friend, something that would have been easier if he had somehow known what qualities Armin wanted in a friend. Suddenly, he feels a little sick.

* * *

Eren looks up expectantly the moment Levi walks into their dorm room. He's sitting at the desk-which has been neatly divided into halves, with the left side in pristine, uncluttered condition and the right overflowing with stacks of papers, and it's easy enough to tell who uses which side. "How was the fencing club?" he asks.

Levi shrugs and sits down at the coffee table, motioning from Eren to come sit across from him, which he does without question. "Fine. I didn't really learn anything I think I'll use, though."

"Maybe you should try the kendo club instead," he suggests, and Levi nods, considering it.

"I wanted to talk to you a little, if you have a minute."

"Of course," Eren says, "Is it about the duels?"

"Actually," Levi says, "I wanted to know a little more about you."

Eren stares at him blankly. "Why?"

The genuine confusion in his voice, as if there's no reason Levi should be interested, tugs at his heartstrings. "Because I hardly know you. And we're roommates."

"And engaged," Eren reminds him.

Levi chooses to ignore that. "So start talking."

"About what?"

"Anything," Levi says, "I don't care. Your likes, your dislikes, your favorite color."

Eren takes a long minute to answer. "Okay," he says slowly, like he's still not sold on the idea. "I like hanging out with my friends. Not necessarily talking, just being around them is fine. I don't like sitting still for very long. Um, and I guess I like the color green? Like a dark green, probably."

Levi's gaze is fixed on him. "What else?" he asks.

Eren shifts uneasily. "I dunno. Uh, I guess I like being able to work off some steam, like going for runs or using the punching bag in the gym."

"What else?"

"Uh. I don't know what-!"

"What the fuck else?" Levi snaps, "There has to be something else, something different. What about your favorite food or drink?"

"Maybe, uh, tea? Black tea, I guess."

Levi slams his fist on the table and Eren jumps. "You're lying," he says.

Eren shrinks back a little. "I'm not lying. I would never lie to you."

"But that can't be right," Levi insists, "Those are all the exact same answers I would have given to those questions."

Neither of them speak. "I didn't know," Eren says very quietly, almost sadly.

Levi remembers what Jean warned him about, but he still can't find it in him to fear anything about the kid, especially when his big eyes are turned down and his eyebrows are furrowed and he looks so damn pathetic.

"I'd ask you about your childhood or something," Levi says, "But you already told me you can't remember anything."

"Then tell me about yours," Eren urges.

The word "no" is very nearly out of Levi's mouth, but he looks across the table at Eren and the way he's looking up at him so hopefully, and he sighs.

"There was," he says, "This kid who lost his parents when he was six. And he didn't know how to go on without them, so he decided he'd just curl up and die, too." His tone softens. "But this guy came out of nowhere, some guy he didn't even know, and he just swooped in like a prince on a horse and saved this kid. And ever since then, the kid wanted to live up to the guy who saved him, but he doesn't know how. Because he's not anything like a prince."

Eren tilts his head. "You mean you, right? You're the kid? I can't really imagine it. You're such a strong person."

"I wasn't always the way I am now, Eren."

"I guess." Eren's eyes brighten. "Tell me about the prince."

"He wasn't literally a prince, he just made me think of one. Like from a fairy tale or something."

"Tell me about him anyway."

Levi isn't sure how this turned into a conversation about him, but he indulges anyway. "He was tall," he pauses, "I mean, I was six, so it wouldn't have taken a lot to be tall compared to me. Hell, it doesn't take much now." Eren is leaning across the table, enraptured with the story. Levi catches himself thinking that he's awfully close. His eyes are gazing into his with laser focus and his lips are pursed with a small smile. Levi could probably lean forward a little bit and they would be just a few inches apart, maybe centimeters, maybe even….

"Levi," Eren says again, and Levi startles to attention. "You were telling me about the prince."

"He wasn't a prince," Levi says firmly, "But he was kind, and noble, and selfless."

"Why do you think you can't be like him?"

"Because I'm not any of those things."

Suddenly Eren is leaning forward again. He's even closer. "I think you are," he says quietly, "I think you're all of those things, and more. You could be a prince. Probably the best one."

"What is it with you and princes?"

Eren is smiling just a little. "I guess I like the idea."

"What the hell does that mean?"

Eren doesn't answer. Instead, he closes the space between them, and presses his lips to Levi's.

Levi's brain short-circuits and he sits there, completely still, trying to figure out what's happening and why. It ends before he can make a decision on how to react, Eren pulling back suddenly with worried eyes, face flushed. He looks down at his hands in his lap. "Ah," he says, "Sorry, that was, uh. I didn't mean. Well."

Levi doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't say anything, and Eren eventually gets up and awkwardly excuses himself to use the restroom, slamming the door behind him. Levi's heart is beating fast and his thoughts are racing, but eventually he decides to just go to bed because he's too angry at himself to do anything else.

_Well, you fucked that up,_ he thinks before he drifts off.

* * *

Eren acts like nothing happened the next day, which is completely fine with Levi. He still feels stupid for getting so worked up over a kiss, freezing up like that and panicking and having fitful dreams that Eren no doubt heard because Levi saw the look he gave him when he went to the bathroom to shower. He never says anything, though, and the walk to the high school building is thankfully uneventful with normal small talk. Eren has cemented himself into Levi's daily routine so seamlessly, and he doesn't want to imagine what it would be like to mess all of that up. No matter how much he tells himself that it's better he didn't return the kiss, that he's supposed to be careful around Eren because he doesn't really know this kid, doesn't know if he's being sincere with him, Levi still feels a pang of regret and wonders, _what if?_

His gaze starts wandering and he falls a step behind Eren to look at the way his uniform fits around his body. When he catches himself doing it, he immediately speeds up and walks in front, but the memory is still there, the way Eren's hair rests at the nape of his neck, how he swings his arms when he walks, his legs, his….

"Levi," Petra says, waving a hand in front of his face. It's the end of the school day, and he doesn't remember a single thing he learned today. His friends are all staring at him with varying levels of concern. "Are you okay?"

"Probably not getting enough sleep," Eld says, which is also true, but not the main problem. Levi nods nonetheless. He escapes their questioning this way, insisting that he'll try to get more sleep tonight, and tells Eren to head back without him.

He needs time to himself. The kendo club doesn't meet for another hour or so, and he ends up wandering the courtyard for a little while, winding up back at the birdcage-themed garden where he first laid eyes on Eren. He puts a hand on the frosted glass wall and looks in at the flowers, noticing just how many roses there are.

"I didn't peg you as the type to be interested in flowers," he hears, and turns to find Hange standing nearby.

He's stunned momentarily, not expecting to see them. "You…."

They put their hands on their hips and smile. "Good to see you, too, prince. How's your engagement going? Is it everything you dreamed it would be?"

"What? I'm not…." He doesn't bother arguing. "Are you supposed to be out here right now? I mean, I usually don't see you unless…."

"It's not like I only come out at night," Hange says, "I happen to be on the school paper! The whole "extra, extra!" thing didn't tip you off?"

"But you know about the duels."

"Well, yes. My life pretty much revolves around them." Hange blinks at him as if waiting for something, and when he doesn't, their smile widens into a grin. "Wow, I'm impressed! You didn't ask me, "what does that mean?" Showing some real growth."

"I don't understand how that shows growth," Levi says, "I've learned that none of you answer direct questions, so I might as well not bother."

"No, no," Hange shakes their head, "It is showing growth. You have to start figuring out for yourself what other people mean." They hold the door to the garden open and follow Levi inside, bending down to smell a rose. "Seriously, though, how is your engagement going? Inquiring minds want to know."

"You aren't going to put this in the school paper or something, are you?"

They look mortified. "Of course not! This is strictly between you and me. I don't publish stuff like this." A smile works its way back to Hange's face. "Nobody'd believe it."

Levi lets out a sharp laugh. "Guess you're right."

"So?"

"It's fine, I guess," he says uneasily, "It's not really like being engaged, though. Eren's just my roommate."

"Really? You haven't tried to be more than that?"

"It's not like I haven't tried getting to know him. He has other friends, anyway."

"No," Hange says, eyes sparkling with interest, "More than that. More than friends."

Levi turns away, trying to pretend he's offended rather than embarrassed. "I'm not interested."

"Yes, you are. He's exactly what you want. How could you not be interested?"

That again. Levi's tired of hearing about it. He stares out through the glass panes at the courtyard and the slowly setting sun. "Tell me something," he says, only half-expecting an answer, "Can I trust Eren? I mean, he's obviously a victim in all of this, but that doesn't mean he won't be dishonest."

The light shines off of Hange's glasses, momentarily hiding their eyes. "What Eren wants more than anything," they say, "Is a prince. I don't doubt that he will do anything to get one."

"So I can't trust him."

"You can," Hange says, "You always can. It just might not be wise."

"That's what I meant." Something occurs to him then. "Hold on, you said you were on the school paper. But if you're a student here, why aren't you in uniform?" He turns to look at Hange when they don't answer, but nobody is standing there anymore.

He supposes they never said they were a student.

* * *

Levi arrives just in time for the kendo team to begin practice, but finds there's only one person in the athletics hall. A young woman stands at the far end with a wooden practice sword in her hands, eyes shut in concentration, and though she is in uniform, she doesn't have a faceguard or any of the armor on. She's fairly tall with a light tan and freckles, and her dark hair is tied back in a low ponytail.

Levi takes a few steps and her eyes open despite him thinking he was relatively quiet and go immediately to the hand he wears his ring on. Levi's steps slow as he looks at the hands clasping the sword handle and realizes all too late that she has one, too. His gaze rises to meet her face, and he finds a smirk slowly overtaking her features.

"Well, well, well," she says, voice rough, "Isn't this a surprise? What does the great and powerful Levi Ackerman want with little old me?"

He holds his ground despite the intimidating aura all around her. "I came to see the kendo club," he says, "But I guess nobody's here."

"What, am I nobody?" she asks, and her stance relaxes, sword falling to one side. She approaches him until she's within arm's reach, her smirk a little wider. "You're pretty gutsy. I think I at least like you better than Kirstein and Arlert. Don't get excited, though, because that's not saying much."

"Who are you?"

"That should probably be obvious by now, right?" She holds up her hand to show off her ring. "I'm like you. I guess you want a name, though, huh?" He doesn't say anything, and she laughs. "Christ, you can relax, Ackerman. I'm not out to steal your husband. I think the duels are stupid."

He raises a brow in skepticism. "Really."

"Really," she nods, and offers her free hand. "Ymir, student council treasurer and head of the kendo club." He doesn't take her hand, and she eventually lowers it. "Does your face always look like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like someone pissed in your coffee."

Levi's frown deepens.

"I'll take that as a yes." He's about to turn to leave, but she stops him. "You wanna learn something, right? That's what you came here for. I can teach you a few moves."

"Why would you help me?"

"I already told you, I'm not interested in dueling. To be honest, I think the power we've all been hearing about is complete bullshit."

Levi considers her words. "Are you serious?" he asks, "There's a magic dueling arena, a sword that comes out a kid's chest, and Walls floating in the fucking sky."

"Have you ever asked about whatever we're supposed to get when we win?" Ymir challenges, "I asked the Groom point-blank, told him I didn't want any metaphorical bullshit, and he told me it's the power of miracles."

"Miracles?" Levi repeats.

"To do the impossible," she nods. "That's what we're all fighting for. But that's just what we've been told. We don't really know what's in those Walls. For all we know, it's fucking nothing. Wouldn't that be a twist?"

"You think Eren's lying? That there's really nothing up there?"

"He's not exactly the trustworthy type, if you haven't picked up on that already," Ymir says dryly, "If you want my two cents, I think we're being used. I don't think the dueling game is for us; I think it's for him. When the Walls come down, we won't get shit, but the Groom will get something."

It's the second time he's heard accusations of Eren being untrustworthy and it's starting to really bother Levi. Ymir doesn't have anything to back her up but an idea she came up with, and she could be lying to him to try and throw him off. But at the same time, Levi is realizing that there's not a single person involved in the duels he can trust. Even Jean and Armin could turn around any day and decide they want to fight again, something he's almost certain he'll have to deal with later. It almost makes sense that all this weird, vague nonsense that Eren is wrapped up in isn't really meant for any of them.

But Levi doesn't want to believe that.

He wants to believe in Eren, believe that he's really a good kid and he's just in a bad spot, and of course he'll lie and do whatever he can to get people to make his life less miserable. More than that, though, he wants to believe that the power to cause miracles and do the impossible is real, because if it isn't, he's never going to see his parents again.

"I didn't mean to bum you out," Ymir says, bringing him back to the present, "You have this look on your face. Worse than the 'piss in coffee' look."

"I'm fine," he says, "I should probably be refreshed, honestly. You've given the most realistic perspective so far."

She lets out a sharp bark of laughter. "You know, the other council douchebags always call me cynical, not realistic."

Levi shrugs. "What's the difference?"

In the end, he takes her up on those kendo lessons.

* * *

The walk back gives Levi enough time to think things over.

He reviews what he knows and what he doesn't know, and thinks about Eren a lot. Eren, who he doesn't really know, who he has no reason to trust any more than the duelists who fight to have possession of him, who wants a prince more than anything. He thinks about his eyes and the storm brewing within them, all of that emotion that he always has locked inside him. He thinks about what Eren said to him the other night, how he thinks Levi could be a prince. His prince.

Eren is reading when he comes back, and greets Levi with his usual enthusiasm. Levi sits down on the couch and gestures for Eren to sit down again, but when he takes the seat across the table, Levi shakes his head. "Over here," he says, patting the cushion next to him.

Eren doesn't hesitate and there is no apprehension in his features. Levi scoots a little closer and drapes his arm over the couch behind him. Eren looks into his eyes with the same heated gaze Levi was just thinking about. He hears his heartbeat in his ears and feels heat spreading throughout his body like wildfire.

"Eren," he says hoarsely, hand rising to the boy's chin. Eren doesn't move, or blink. He might not even be breathing. He exists in this moment solely for Levi, his eyes on him and him alone, waiting for him to speak. Levi knows this isn't right and this isn't the way it's supposed to be, but he still leans in, fingertips brushing Eren's cheek, and presses a kiss to his lips. He initially fears that Eren will go limp like Levi did last time, that he might push him away and the rest of the night will be horribly awkward, but that doesn't happen.

Eren kisses him back with all the passion that Levi sees hidden in his eyes, finally escaping in the form of tongue and teeth, gasps as Levi leaves a trail of bites down his neck. Eren falls back, still connected to Levi with his hands tangled in his hair, pulling him down with him, and they stop, panting and red-faced and looking into each other's eyes searching for hesitation but don't find any.

"I'm not sure I'm going to be able to stop," Levi warns.

Eren responds by wrapping his legs around Levi's waist and nipping at his ear, whispering, "Good."

It's exactly what Levi has wanted and needed and denied himself for so long now that he doesn't stop to think about anything, not how Eren is so good at this, not if he should really trust Eren, and not about whether or not the power to cause miracles is real or not. All he needs right now is Eren, to be with Eren, to be one with Eren.

If it means keeping Eren close, then he will become the prince he is so desperate for, no matter the consequences.

Like the time he swore to become a prince as a child, this, too, is an ill-conceived, foolish, and doomed endeavor that will inevitably lead to further suffering.

* * *

**So I don't have the next chapter written yet and finals are just around the corner, so there might not be an update next weekend. Sorry in advance!**


	6. Invisible Thorns

Levi wakes up with something heavy on top of him. It takes a minute or two for him to become completely lucid, but after he's rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he looks down and finds Eren crammed into the bunk with him, hand resting on Levi's chest and their legs tangled together.

Neither of them are wearing anything.

To his credit, Levi doesn't panic. He remembers that things just sort of escalated, but they'd both been aware of that and okay with it. And he's still okay with it, really, he doesn't regret anything that happened, but he is wondering how he's going to be able to look Eren in the eye or how they're going to go to class and not be completely awkward. Yesterday, they were roommates, albeit with quite a bit of sexual tension between them. It wasn't just Eren trying to kiss him that first time, either. Levi had tried desperately to ignore just how much he liked Eren—how unobtrusive he was when Levi needed time to himself, how he had that strength and passion in his eyes, how he slowly opened up to him. Levi knows this could all be part of Eren's supposedly masterful deception, reading everyone around him and behaving in the way they need and want most, but it was kind of hard to think about it that way last night.

They don't talk about it, but something is obviously different. Eren leaves the bathroom door open when he showers, dresses in front of him, and they walk closer together, whatever invisible barriers that had been between them before suddenly crumbling to pieces. Eren has this stupid smile on his face all morning, too, and he's more scatterbrained than usual, forgetting his homework and forcing them to go back for it, but for some reason, Levi doesn't mind. Petra comments on Eren's surprisingly good mood as well as Levi's, claiming he isn't scowling for once. "Did something good happen?" she asks.

"Not really," Levi says, "Just slept better than usual."

He doesn't realize that innuendo could possibly be worked into the sentence until it's already left his mouth, but nobody seems to pick up on it, and he realizes he's being paranoid.

* * *

At the top of the central tower, Ymir checks her watch and stands abruptly from the card table, and all eyes turn to her. "Give me the short version later," she says, "I've gotta do something." The student council president tries calling out to her, but she's already speed walking away.

"What was that about?" Jean mutters, watching her disappear into the elevator.

The president rests an elbow on the table and his head against it, sighing. "No idea. Apparently, it's more important than discussing the newest letters."

"I'm not surprised. She doesn't think the letters matter, anyway." Jean leans back in his chair. "Since Armin's gone again, it's just the two of us now. Should we just call it a day?"

"We could, but I was hoping to talk to you about the duelist currently engaged to the Rose Groom, Levi Ackerman. You've met him on several occasions, haven't you?"

Jean regards him with suspicion. "What do you wanna know?"

"Anything. He's won three consecutive duels, and his first two victories were against you, which I found particularly surprising."

"I underestimated him the first time," Jean admits, "But the second time, I knew what I was walking into. He's no pushover."

"And do you think the Groom believes he can become the prince?"

"Does it matter?"

"It might."

Jean is silent for a moment. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure he thinks so." He looks away from the president. "I don't really get the prince thing, to be honest. The letters bring it up a lot, and I know it's a big damn deal to the Groom, but I still don't understand."

"It might be a way to determine who's worthy of the power or miracles," the president says thoughtfully, "We might win the Groom, but if he doesn't choose us in the end, it might not matter."

"Hasn't he told all of us that we could become the prince?" Jean asks, "Maybe he's just trying to trick us."

The president shakes his head. "He's told us we _could _become the prince," he says, "But have any of us actually become on?"

"Of course not. Fairy tale princes aren't even real. It isn't possible for any of us to be one."

An uneasy silence takes over.

* * *

Levi is called to the headmaster's office in the middle of class this time, and he finds himself with a feeling of dread as he starts walking. The horrible, guilty feeling he has in the pit of his stomach is stupid, because he's not dating anybody and has no obligation to Eren or Erwin. And yet, every step that brings him closer to the central tower is slow and reluctant, and the elevator ride to the top floor takes way too damn long.

The second the elevator doors open, the scent of roses hits him hard. He comes into the office and sees Erwin's warm smile, and his stomach surges with anxiety and anticipation, the desire to flee and the desire to throw himself into his arms. Levi knows he wasn't like this a few weeks ago and he isn't sure if it's the duels or if the previous night with Eren has just made him pay more attention to his own needs.

"You wanted to see me?" he asks, much more meekly than he intended.

"I just wanted to know how you've been doing," Erwin says, so warm compared to everyone else, "I haven't heard from you in a while. Are you getting enough rest? I know the duels put tremendous stress on a person, and the can interfere with your sleep schedule."

Levi swallows nervously.

"Levi?" Erwin asks, his name rolling off of his tongue far too smoothly. Levi wants to hear it again.

"Sorry, I," he struggles to find the right words, or any words at all, "I'm listening, I just…yes, the duels have been stressful." Erwin nods in understanding. "But I've learned a few things. About the duels."

"You have?"

"Yeah. I guess the power in the Walls is considered some kind of power to grant miracles."

Erwin steeples his fingers and leans over them. "Hm. That's very vague."

"Yeah, I know, but…." He's definitely been part of the dueling game too long, because it seemed to make sense to him. "Yeah. I guess it is. It's just what somebody told me. I've met almost all the other duelists now, I think. One of them is on the kendo team."

"Ymir, I believe," Erwin says, "She was on the student council last year and dueled then, as well. Is she the one who told you that?"

"Yeah. But she says she doesn't believe the power actually exists. She thinks Eren's lying to us, and that whatever reward is at the end of the dueling game is going to go to him and not anybody else."

"And what do you think?"

Levi shrugs. "I don't know what to think."

"Do you think Eren is lying?" Erwin's voice is even and his words careful, but Levi is certain he sees something in his eyes, something not so measured and cautious, maybe leftover from his days as a duelist, pain from when he couldn't help the Rose Bride.

Levi doesn't ever want to know how he feels. "If he is," he says, "Then I don't hold it against him." Erwin nods, seemingly satisfied by the answer, and in the ensuing silence, Levi feels that guilt and anxiety gnawing at him once again. Erwin, he's almost certain now, is his prince, the man who appeared at the funeral all those years ago, changed his life, and led him to Trost. He's kind and helpful and handsome, and Levi doesn't just admire him, he's attracted to him now. At the same time, he has something going on with Eren, and even though he doesn't have a name for it, he thinks it's probably important and meaningful and worth keeping.

"I'm having some trouble with something," he says quickly, "It doesn't have anything to do with the duels, though."

"That's alright," Erwin says, "You have a life outside of dueling, and I'm more than willing to give advice, if you feel I can help."

He forces the words out before he can change his mind. "I'm attracted to someone, and I've been with this person intimately. But there's another person I'm attracted to at the same time, and I…."

Erwin obviously wants to smile but is trying not to out of consideration, and it just makes him feel like more of a stupid child. "I don't think that sort of situation is necessarily uncommon at your age," Erwin says, "You're trying to decide who you should pursue, and you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings."

Levi nods.

"Are you in a formal relationship with either of these people?"

He shakes his head.

"I think it's best," Erwin says thoughtfully, "That you're open with both parties. Make your intentions clear before you do anything so you're all on the same page. Someone might be upset, but significantly less than if you had done something behind their back."

Levi wishes it were that simple. If Erwin really is his prince, he either doesn't recognize him or is content not to say anything about it. Either way, he's significantly older, and he's the goddamned headmaster at Levi's school, there's no way in hell anything is going to come of Levi's attraction to him. That doesn't stop him from wondering, though, and from _wanting_. Levi's prince is sitting right in front of him, and the only thing between them is a desk.

Suddenly the room seems so much hotter. Levi swallows the lump in his throat. "Thanks," he says hoarsely, "I should probably get back to class. I'll let you know if I hear anything else."

Erwin lets him go without a fuss, and Levi isn't sure if the way he practically runs from his office is obvious or not.

* * *

Levi's friends are much more observant than he gives them credit for. Petra asks him about what the headmaster wanted and he comes up with a quick lie that doesn't make him sound like he's in trouble but doesn't have anything to do with the duels, and it's obvious she doesn't buy it. As much as he appreciates her concern, his fear of being found out and his guilt about his feelings for both Eren and Erwin are already bothering him, and having his friends hover around trying to figure out what he did that would get him called to the headmaster's office in the middle of the day is just too much for him to deal with.

He leaves to get fresh air, asking to use the bathroom and ignoring the way everyone looks at him with obvious skepticism, making a beeline for the open air hallways and taking a deep breath as he slows his steps. He wonders if Hange will appear to him again and really hopes they don't, because he isn't sure he can deal with them right now.

But it isn't Hange who interrupts his moment to himself. He seems movement in the birdcage garden and, against his better judgment, steps out into the courtyard and approaches to get a better look. He thinks it's just one figure at first, but he realizes there's two people inside, bodies pressed so closely together they look like one, hands wandering one another's bodies. Levi understands what he's looking at and averts his eyes before he takes in too many details, but he realizes there's someone standing at the door right outside, tall, athletic, in a student council uniform line with gold.

Ymir's eyes are wide. The bouquet of tulips and lilies clenched in her hand hits the ground, petals scattering. Slowly, she turns away from the garden and walks towards the hallway, noticing him standing there before Levi can leave. "Ymir?" he asks cautiously.

She doesn't meet his eyes, face burning with a bright, embarrassed blush, trying to smirk confidently but her expression falters and her shoulders tremble. "Hey."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she says quietly, "It was dumb anyway. This is why you shouldn't believe in fucking miracles." She walks past him just as the first tears start to roll down her face.

Not a moment later, the garden door opens, and Levi spots a petite girl with long blond hair hurriedly tugging the bow of her uniform back in place as she runs off in the opposite direction. A much taller young man walks out a second later and shuts the door behind him. Levi's eyes fly almost reflexively to the red stripes on his student council uniform and the signet ring with the Wings of Freedom carved into its surface before they rise to his face.

"Levi Ackerman," he says in an interested tone, and he has to look down to meet his gaze because he's about Erwin's height, "I don't think we've met yet. I'm Reiner." He smiles a little bit like he's trying to be friendly. Levi doesn't think he could return it if he tried.

"So you're the student council president."

"I am." Reiner offers a hand for Levi to shake, and retracts it when he doesn't move. "We may be opponents in the dueling game, but we can still be civil with each other."

"I'm not really interested in being friends with any of you," Levi says, though the he recalls the feeling he gets with Ymir, something like being kindred spirit, when he notices her abandoned bouquet on the ground. He kneels to retrieve it, finding a handwritten note with Ymir's name signed at the bottom and almost cringes. He never really thought of her as the romantic type, and the pain on her face when she saw Reiner with someone else is still fresh in his mind. "Did you know she liked you?"

"Who?"

"Ymir."

"Ymir?" Reiner repeats, sounding like he's trying not to laugh, "I'm not sure about that."

Levi clenches the flowers in his hand, not sure why he's so angry about this. "Great," he says, "You're just as much of an asshole as I thought you'd be," and turns on his heel to leave. He's surprised but not disappointed that Reiner doesn't even try to stop him.

* * *

At the end of the day, he goes back to his dorm, and barely has the door shut when Eren walks right over to him and plants a kiss on his lips. Levi pushes him back with both hands, finding a shocked expression on the Rose Groom's face. "Sorry," he says sheepishly.

"It's fine," Levi says, "But we need to talk about this." They take a seat at the coffee table again, and Levi resolves to not back out.

Before he even gets a word in, Eren asks, very softly, "Do you not like me anymore?"

"No," Levi says quickly, almost pained by the sadness overtaking Eren's features, "No, that's not it. Eren, we're…engaged." He brightens immediately at finally hearing Levi use the word. "And that's a problem."

"Why?"

"Because it makes you act in ways that you wouldn't otherwise." He holds Eren's gaze. "You know that, right? That being engaged to someone makes you act a certain way?" He doesn't get a response, but he forges on anyway. "The point is, I don't want to take advantage of that. Of you. I don't have myself completely figured out yet."

"Are you not sure of your sexual orientation?"

Levi is startled by the straightforwardness of the question and almost laughs. "No," he says, "That's not a problem. I don't really have a preference either way. I meant that there's another person I feel strongly about."

"Your prince," Eren says immediately.

Levi doesn't see any reason to lie. "Yes."

"That's fine, I understand completely." Eren smiles. "You can be with him if you want to, as long as I can be with you, too."

"That's the problem," Levi says, "I'm not really comfortable with that."

Eren's smile falls and he' quiet for a moment. "I can't really blame you," he says quietly, "For choosing him over me."

"I'm not choosing him over you," Levi insists, "I'm not choosing _anybody_."

Eren blinks, staring in confusion. "Then what are you going to do?"

Levi opens his mouth. Closes it. Thinks a minute longer. "Nothing, I guess," he says at last.

"You have to do something," Eren says, almost urgently, "It's okay with me if you choose him, Levi. I really don't mind. I think if I were in your situation, I'd do the same thing."

"I'm not going to do that. It wouldn't work between us, anyway. He's too old."

Eren's eyes go to Levi's pocket where he keeps his signet ring. Something unreadable flickers in his eyes. For some reason, Levi feels as if he knows who he's talking about, but he couldn't possibly. "He's your prince," Eren says softly, "Somehow, you'll find a way."

The conversation does more harm than good in the end. Levi goes to bed feeling cold, wishing Eren were lying with him, then wishing it were Erwin, and then telling himself he needs to just go to sleep. Eren's idolization of the concept of a prince still bothers him and makes him worry about the future of the duels and what comes after, as well as his mention that he would do the same in Levi's situation.

He wonders if he's really Eren's prince, or if he deserves to be.

He wonders what it means if he isn't.


	7. Believing in Miracles

The tolling of bells echoes into the sky, resounding off of the Walls and filling Levi's ears with dread. The blade Ymir clenches in her right hand is most certainly not a kendo sword, slightly curved and serrated, vicious-looking. All of her nonchalance and confidence and sarcastic wit is gone, replaced by madness, eyes wide and wild. "There are no such things as miracles," she says with a crazed laugh, pointing at him with her sword, "I'll show you, Levi. I'll show you."

"You're dueling for all the wrong reasons," Levi tells her, but she's too far gone to hear him, laughing over his words.

She runs at him, the thirst for blood evident in her eyes, and Levi braces himself, trying to remember how it came to this.

* * *

The day had started normally enough; Levi had a somewhat awkward morning with Eren where they both struggled to maintain the boundaries they'd set the previous night. Levi tried to keep his distance, but he'd occasionally bump arms with Eren or brush hands with him as they walked to campus, and, likely mirroring Levi's own inner conflict and desires, Eren did it a few times, too, offering apologetic glances afterwards.

He's saved from a long day of mind-numbing lectures he doesn't care about and inevitably awkward lunch conversations where he and Eren avoid looking at each other when someone grabs his forearm on his way down the hall during lunch. He snaps a glare over his shoulder at whoever dared touch him but his eyes widen when he sees the grim face of Ymir, lips a tight frown.

"You have a minute?" she asks.

Behind him, Levi hears Eren's footsteps abruptly stop. He glances back and gestures with his head, telling him to go on without him, and Eren does so reluctantly. "What is it?" he asks Ymir, who silently leads him the other way, out through the open air hallway, past the birdcage garden, all the way to the east end of campus, near his dorm.

The old academy hall used for dances and other social functions looms over the northeastern corner of Trost Academy's territory, casting a tall shadow over the land behind it cultivated and paved into a hedge maze. Ymir passes the building altogether and heads straight for the entrance of the maze, beginning to speak only when she steps behind the first green wall of tightly packed leaves and forcing Levi to walk faster to keep up.

"I'm usually a pretty confident person," Levi hears her say. He catches just a glimpse of her ponytail disappearing behind a corner and takes a right turn, suddenly feeling claustrophobic with tall walls on all sides of him. "Yesterday, though, I felt like a total loser. I skipped class and a student council meeting to pick up a bouquet. I planned on asking someone to the school dance."

"The school dance?" Levi repeats incredulously, "You don't seem the type who'd be interested in going." He's lost sight of Ymir completely, and he thinks he might be lost. He's made a few sharp rights, a left, and he can't see a damn thing over the bushes. He wonders whose idea it was to grow a fucking maze on campus.

"I'm not usually," he hears her say from somewhere not too far away, maybe just on the other side of the wall to his right, "But sometimes, you meet someone, and they're just worth it, you know? They're worth doing all sorts of dumb shit that you'd never do otherwise."

Just as Levi's starting to get nervous, he finds himself at the end of the path, the maze opening up into a circular clearing with gazebo in the center. Ymir is leaning against the railing staring at nothing, and Levi slowly walks over to join her. It's eerily quiet here; Levi has noticed that he can't hear any cars passing even though they shouldn't be far from the road, and the chatter of students and even the cooing of birds is long gone.

"Why does this shit keep happening to me?" Ymir asks no one in particular, voice much softer than usual.

Levi glances at her out of the corner of his eye, feeling almost uncomfortable, as if he's intruding on a private moment even though she's the one who led him here. "You deserve better than Reiner," he says.

Ymir turns her entire body to look at him, eyebrows raised in amusement despite the pain evident in her eyes, and she laughs, raucous and sharp, until she's doubled over holding her stomach. Levi doesn't understand what the hell is so funny and waits until she's calmed herself down, laughter dying into bitter chuckles as she shakes her head. "Ackerman," she says with a sad smile, "Don't talk about things you don't understand."

"I don't know him that well, but he made a distinctly poor first impression."

"Shut up. You don't know what you're talking about." Ymir relaxes again, but her expression hardens into something surprisingly solemn. "I wanted to talk to you about something important, and yes, it has to do with the duels."

Levi is on the defensive immediately. "What about the duels, exactly?"

"Tell me what you're dueling for."

He doesn't hesitate quite as long as he did with Jean. What used to be a horribly private matter has become something he doesn't mind telling people who ask, and he isn't sure if that's because he's stronger now, or if the duels themselves are changing him. "For my parents," he says, "I want to bring them back to life. And, I guess, for Eren, too."

Ymir's eyes narrow. "Why?"

"Because he can't be happy doing this."

The student council treasurer is silent for a long time, considering his words. "So you're like them."

"What?"

"The other duelists," she clarifies, "You're all the same." She holds up her right hand, showing off her ring. "Levi," she says, and he notices the slight fondness with which she says his first name, recognition of their kinship, "I challenge you for the Rose Groom."

Levi thinks he must have heard her wrong. "You what?"

"I challenge you." She takes a step forward, and the height difference between them is suddenly painfully obvious, as is the strength of her arms, muscle definition that Levi first noticed when he saw her at kendo practice. "Are you surprised? Bet you thought I'd never duel."

Levi feels betrayed. He and Ymir weren't close by any means, but he thought he'd found somebody on the student council he could really relate to, someone almost as pessimistic as him who felt confused and bitter about the duels, someone who he might've confided in given time. Like almost everyone he's met since he started dueling, she, too, has been keeping something from him.

"Don't give me that look," she says with a frown, "It's even worse than usual."

"You told me you don't believe in any of this."

"I believe in some of it," Ymir says, "I just don't believe in miracles. I thought you and I were a lot alike, but I guess I was wrong. You're just as delusional as the rest of them."

"Why?" Levi snaps, "Because I want my parents back? Because I'm willing to trust Eren? What's wrong with that? What's wrong with wanting to fix things?"

"I'm helping you," Ymir snarls, suddenly in his face, "You and Armin and Reiner and Jean, you're all fucking idiots, you want magic to solve all your problems instead of just facing them. What will you do if there's nothing in the Walls? What will you do if all this shit you've done, all the fighting and passing around the Groom, is for nothing? What will you do, Levi?"

He doesn't back down. "What are you dueling for?" he hisses, "Something had to have brought you into the game."

Ymir leans away, standing at full height again, looking away. "None of your goddamned business."

"You can't look down on me for wanting to make things right when you want to do the same fucking thing," Levi growls, "You've just given up, while the rest of us are still willing to fight."

"This conversation is over," she declares, turning her back on him and starting to leave the pagoda, "I'll see you tonight at the arena."

"You're a coward," Levi says to her back, "You're afraid that even magic can't fix your problems. You say you don't believe in it, but really, you want to win just as bad as we do." He feels his blood boiling as she ignores him and runs at her, fist raised. "Fucking look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Ymir spins around, grabbing his wrist before he can land the punch and kneeing him in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him. She drops him to the ground gasping and looks down in disgust. "I've got no problem with beating the shit out of you right here, if that's what you want," she says, glaring down, "It's not like you're gonna stand a chance in the dueling arena anyway. You'd need a miracle to win, so it's a damn shame there aren't any."

Levi grits his teeth and fights to get to his knees, defiance shining in his eyes. "Fuck you."

Ymir takes this as a sign of surrender and smirks, turning to leave again and Levi lets her go this time, thoughts rushing in anger, consumed by the desire to win the next duel. He feels bad for Ymir, of course, but more than pity, he's incensed at her attitude, that she thinks she can elevate herself above the rest of the duelists. He isn't about to give up just because the power to bring his parents back might not be there; he has to try. He just has to try.

And he can't give Eren over to anyone.

A minute after she's gone, Levi gets to his feet and looks around, wondering if he'll find his way out of the maze if he just starts wandering.

* * *

Hange is waiting for him at the edge of the maze, and despite his frustration and mental exhaustion from finally navigating back out into the open, he stops to talk. "You're early again," he says.

They let out an exasperated sigh. "I told you, I don't just come out at night, or just for duels. But never mind that. It seems you have another duel tonight, and with none other but the Dancing Blade herself."

"Dancing Blade?"

Hange smiles. "Maybe you haven't noticed yet, but each duelist can be considered a unique sword."

"You mean they have unique swords?"

They shake their head. "No. A duelist _is_ their sword. Even you, Levi. What kind of sword you are determines what you're capable of, and how you'll achieve victory."

"So Ymir's the 'Dancing Blade?'" he asks, "What does that mean? Is that how she fights?"

"You'll find out tonight," Hange says unhelpfully.

"What's Jean, then? Or Armin? What am I?"

"Sorry, we're just about out of time today." Hange gives a slight wave and walks in the direction Levi came back into the maze. "I couldn't tell you what kind of sword you are, anyway. A duelist decides for themselves what kind of sword they'll be. If you don't know, you should give it some thought."

* * *

Levi has time before the duel. Classes have just gotten out when he gets back to his dorm, and he only has a minute or two of undisturbed silence to consider what it means for Ymir to be a "Dancing Sword" when the door opens and Eren comes in, cheeks flushed and breathless. He drops his school bag and practically collapses at the table across from Levi, resting his face on it.

"Are you okay?" Levi asks hesitantly.

Eren takes another moment to catch his breath. "Yeah," he pants, "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. I ran here from class."

"What for?"

Eren turns his head and looks up at Levi, cheek still pressed to the table. "I wanted to see you." Levi knows his face shouldn't get warm just from that, but he has to turn away to hide his blush.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere," Levi says.

"I know." Eren picks himself up, sitting up straight. "There's going to be a duel tonight, though." Levi doesn't ask how he knows. He's past that phase. "I believe in you. But…just in case." His smile is full of warmth and fondness and unconditional love. Levi almost can't look at him. "I wanted to spend time with you, even if it's not for very long."

Levi knows he wanted to see Eren. This isn't Eren saying what he wants; it's Eren reacting to what Levi wants. He knows that, but he can't stop the pleasant feeling that spreads through his chest, the thought that he's wanted and needed by someone. That he is a prince right now.

In the half second that he isn't paying attention, Eren has come around the table, and he slides into Levi's waiting lap, draping his arms over his shoulders. "Eren," Levi warns.

The brat just smiles at him. He leans in slowly, letting Levi savor every second that they come closer, the feeling of Eren's breath against his lips, the heat from Eren's body and his weight on top of him. Levi moves without thinking, hands framing Eren's face and he gazes into his eyes, teal and passionate, the same ones that led him down this road not so long ago.

"Eren," he says again, softer this time, "I feel like I'm taking advantage of you."

"You're not," Eren assures him.

"I am," Levi says, trying to sound firm.

The Rose Groom presses himself into Levi fully, chests touching, forehead to forehead, and whispers, "How are you taking advantage if this is exactly what I want?"

Levi's brain short circuits.

His mouth meets Eren furiously, trying to claim him, trying to prevent him from ever wanting or needing anything else ever again. Their tongues twist around each other and Eren groans into his mouth when Levi's hands wander to the edge of his uniform jacket and sneak underneath, feeling his skin under his fingers.

His voice brings Levi back to his senses, and he separates from Eren reluctantly, pushing on his chest when he tries to move in for another kiss. "Eren, stop," he says, feeling more sure of his decision when the boy does exactly as he's told, remaining a respectful distance away. "I _am _taking advantage of you, and your prince would never do that."

Eren looks down, obviously disappointed, but doesn't argue. "I guess." He crawls off of Levi's lap, remaining at his side when he stands up. "It won't change, you know," he says, "Even after the duels are over, I'll still want to be with you."

Levi smiles bitterly. That's exactly what he wants to hear. "Don't worry about me," he says, "When the duels are over, you need to start thinking about what you'll do, because you'll be free to do whatever you want."

Eren looks at Levi strangely, like he's not sure what to think about what he just said, but a smile slowly overtakes his features, and Levi finds himself smiling back. "I guess I will be," he says, and he sounds happy about that.

It's all the motivation Levi needs to face his next duel without fear.

* * *

And that's how it happened, Levi remembers.

It was Ymir and her twisted ideals, the way she projected her own insecurities onto him and claimed she would stop him from hurting himself when all she wanted was to win, just like everyone else. It was Eren and his smile, his innocent desire for a prince, for somebody to save him, his dedication to upholding the image of their perfect mate despite his true personality lurking just behind the façade, just waiting for Levi to set it free.

Ymir throws herself at him recklessly, yet the movement is almost graceful, her sword arm swinging the blade in an unpredictable, wide arc that he only barely parries with the phantom sword, his heels sliding back in the roses from the brute strength she puts behind it. She looks possessed, her body moving with otherworldly poise as she leaps just out of his striking range, only to close the distance between them again in two steps, forcing Levi on the defensive.

"Take off your rose and throw it on the ground," Ymir snarls, "The longer you wear it, the more its thorns'll dig into you. Being a duelist just means you'll suffer."

"I don't care," Levi says, dodging her next swing and trying to get a strike in, cursing in disappointment when she leaps away again, "My parents are worth it. Eren is worth it."

"Of course they are," Ymir laughs bitterly, "Of fucking course they are."

He sees it now, in the way she kicks up roses when she runs at him, the way she crushes them underfoot without a glance spared at them, the wild passion in her eyes. He sees why she is the Dancing Blade, a capricious storm rolling straight towards him, unblockable, unstoppable.

The jagged end of her blade catches Levi's sword, and his eyes widen as she gives a flick of her wrist, forcing it out of his hand and sending it flying. He lands on his back and tries to crawl away, and she points down at him with her wicked, dancing blade, grinning sickly. "See?" she hisses, "I told you. No such thing as miracles."

Levi hears something like whistling, something moving quickly through the air, falling towards them. There's a flash of silver glinting in front of his eyes, and his sword lands in the ground between his legs, point buried in the roses. Ymir lets out a shaky breath, smile frozen on her face in disbelief, sword handle trembling.

It happened so fast, but he saw it. He saw the phantom sword fall, ripping her rose cleanly from her breast pocket.

Ymir's chest heaves as she hyperventilates. "No way," she breathes, "No fucking way." She laughs, broken and pitiful. "Are you fucking kidding me?" The bells ring in the distance, and Levi slowly gets to his feet. Ymir drops her sword and throws her head back, laughing hysterically as tears roll down her cheeks. They both know what just happened.

A miracle.

He tries to walk by her and her hand shoots out, fisting in the collar of his uniform jacket and hoisting him off the ground to be at eye-level with her. Levi claws at her wrists. "Why you?" she shouts in his face, "What do you have that I don't? That any of us don't? Why the fuck did he choose you? Why does this keep happening to me?!"

"Ymir," Eren says from behind her, and Levi sees his eyes become cold, "You lost. Let him go."

She shoots him a glare but does as she's told, dropping Levi to the ground. She looks down at him not with disgust but with envy. "Fuck you," she says, "Fuck you and the Groom. I don't need him. I'll fix this myself." Levi barely glimpses a single tear rolling down her face before it falls and disappears into the flowers.

"He isn't worth it," he tells her.

Ymir's envy morphs into a bitter smile. "I told you to shut the fuck up if you didn't know what you were talking about," she says, but she doesn't sound angry anymore. She turns on her heel to leave, laughing, "Reiner. Ha! As if," leaving Levi bewildered in her wake.

* * *

"It's not Reiner that she likes," Eren tells him when they get home.

"Thanks, I figured that out by now," Levi says with a roll of his eyes.

"It's probably surprising to people who don't know her well. Ymir seems like the kind of person who'd like somebody as strong as her." Eren shrugs. "But actually, she's more the type to feel special when she has someone she can protect."

Levi's thoughts fly back to the birdcage garden and the couple he saw there, Reiner and the girl who was pressed against him, petite with golden hair. He didn't see her face, but she was small and fragile-looking. "Someone to protect, huh?" he muses. Eren starts on his evening ritual, hanging his pajamas over one arm and heading for the bathroom. "Hey, Eren," Levi stops him, "What do I look like when I duel?" Eren gets that dreamy look in his eyes he always does when they talk about the prince, and Levi already knows what he's going to say. "Other than like a prince."

"You really do look like a prince, though," Eren insists, "Brave, heroic, determined, strong…you just look amazing."

Levi sighs and decides he'll think on it some more later. He doesn't think he has the introspective skill to examine himself and decide what kind of sword he's supposed to be, and Eren isn't going to be incredibly helpful in that regard. Maybe he'll ask Armin or Jean tomorrow.

He'd ask Ymir, but he's not sure she wants to see him again after tonight.


End file.
